


Howling at the Moon

by Zhaney



Series: Chronology [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bigotry & Prejudice, Child Abuse, Claustrophobia, Department for the Welfare of Magical Children, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Foster Care, Healer Sirius Black, Historically Accurate Full Moon Calendar, Lunar Eclipse, M/M, Major Original Character(s), New Baby, Non-Verbal Character, POV Remus Lupin, Post-Canon, Potter Kids Renamed, Raising Teddy Lupin, Remus Lupin Lives, Sirius Black Lives, Teacher Remus Lupin, Welsh Remus Lupin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-15
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:26:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 30,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21809512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zhaney/pseuds/Zhaney
Summary: Remus and Sirius are asked to meet with an incoming new student five years after the end of the war. She turns out to be the first werewolf student Hogwarts has taught since Remus himself and their lives are about to get a lot more complicated because of it.This is a work in progress and new tags will be added as I write more."Chronology" AU - 2003
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Series: Chronology [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1472504
Comments: 48
Kudos: 90





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MeganMoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganMoon/gifts).



> **Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or anything related to it. JK Rowling wrote the original story and we have taken that and ran with it to support the values it taught us.
> 
> \---
> 
> This is a plot bunny that's been hanging around in my head for a long time and is actually what started the whole "Chronology" series in the first place. It got written a little out of order, as you can see! I decided to go ahead and actually start writing this one out so the two active stories will be written simultaneously for a while. I often find that writing a past/future story will give me ideas for how to keep things moving for their counterparts. As such, I apologize for any spoilers that might happen since I'm working on them both together.
> 
> So anyway, notes to keep in mind for this story!
> 
> With the time setting, we will meet the first of Harry and Ginny's children. Since their original names are stupid, he is renamed accordingly: **James Sirius = Oliver James**. Oliver is just a name I like and I see Harry and Ginny as wanting to give their kids names they like rather than naming them all for dead people. James is an obvious nod to Harry's dad but isn't the forefront of his name so that he can be his own person.
> 
>  **Shilo Marged Hughes** , who we will learn about in the next chapter, is an original character who will become a main character in the story. I won't give spoilers about her here but I will give a shout-out to one of my biggest fans on AO3, _MeganMoon_ , with her name. Marged is the Welsh form of Margaret, its pet-form being Megan. Thanks for sticking with me! Just figured out how to gift fics as well so enjoy!
> 
> All that said, enjoy the story and let me know what you think! I love answering questions and comments!

The tawny owl tapping at the kitchen window was the second thing that got Remus’s attention from where he stood at the stove cooking breakfast. The first was a wide-eyed little boy sporting bubblegum pink hair pointing at it and shrieking with a level of excitement that could only be expressed by a five year old.

“Tada! Tada! There’s an owl! Look!”

Remus looked over as it began to tap at the glass. “Daddy will wake up if you keep yelling, Teddy,” he told his son as he walked over to let the bird inside. It held out a dignified leg with an envelope attached and waited patiently for him to remove it. The letter was sealed with purple wax stamped in the Hogwarts crest and Remus eyed it carefully as he absently offered the owl a treat from a tin kept by the window. It took one and then fluttered off again, its duty done.

A curious little body was suddenly at his side, peering up from his hip to get a look at the letter and grinning with a missing front tooth. His father shooed him back to his seat where he’d been coloring at the table. “It’s not for you.”

“Is it for you and Daddy?” the boy asked even as he settled back into his chair.

“Yes.” Remus pocketed the envelope in his dressing gown pocket to look at later and then shot a smile across the room at his son as he went back to the stove. He glanced over his shoulder again after a few minutes. “Bring me your plate. The eggs are done.”

“Yay!” Teddy hopped back out of his chair and pushed his paper and colored pencils aside, some falling on the floor in his eagerness. He practically skipped across the room to Remus to get his scrambled eggs with cheese and crumbled sausage on toast. “Diolch!”

“Croeso,” Remus answered, rolling his eyes at the mess the boy had made. “You realize that you have to pick all of that up when you are done eating, right?”

Teddy looked at the things he’d knocked onto the floor with a crestfallen expression on his face. He stared for a moment and then he shrugged and climbed back into his chair. The pencils floated up onto the table as he started to eat.

Remus stared. He’d known since Teddy was born that he had magic; his hair had been changing since birth. He’d never used magic to affect the world around him, though. And by the looks of it, he didn’t even realize that he had. When Teddy looked up and saw him staring, he cocked his head curiously and smiled. Remus smiled back and then came to sit at the table with him, mentioning nothing of it. Sirius surely would have said something considering how excited he’d been when the little boy had started walking and talking. This sort of first was something he’d have shared if he knew about it. Remus wondered if he could get Teddy to do it again and pondered ways to set up situations without making it obvious. A Marauder smirk graced his lips as he realized that Sirius would be very willing to help in such an endeavor.

Teddy ate quietly, having learned that habit from Remus. His father rarely spoke while eating even though Sirius sometimes tried to initiate conversation and got short answers as replies. Instead, both Lupins tended to just listen to him talk. Teddy was far more excited to answer if his adopted dad asked anything of him, though, so long as he didn’t talk with his mouth full.

The rest of the morning was spent drawing with his son and waiting for Sirius to get up. Teddy seemed insistent on drawing pictures of his family lately, including three big people-esque figures and a little one to indicate his parents and himself. Remus helped him label them. One with brown hair and green dots for eyes was “Tada” while a black haired one with grey eyes was “Daddy.” The little one, currently pink haired with green eyes, was “me” and the last one, also with pink hair but with grey eyes, was “Mami.” This had become a fairly typical subject of artwork since he’d started primary school and it always warmed Remus’s heart to see Teddy include his mother when talking about his family even though he couldn’t remember her. There were pictures of her all over the cottage and Teddy kept one by his bed, in which she and Remus were holding him as a baby, next to one of Remus and Sirius playing with him as a toddler. Other family photos around the included Andi and Lyall while newer pictures included Harry and Ginny as well. Sometimes his grandparents and aunt and uncle made it into Teddy’s drawings as well but Dora was always there alongside Remus and Sirius.

“Drawing without me, Teddy?” Sirius asked as he crept up behind the little boy. Remus had known he was coming but hadn’t mentioned it for sake of allowing Sirius to greet his son in what had become a customary routine of trying to make the little boy jump. Having been engrossed in the picture he was working on with Remus, this morning it worked. The pencils by his arm got knocked onto the floor when he whirled around to look at Sirius and Sirius just grinned at him. “Got ya.”

“Daddy!” Teddy complained then he turned to Remus. “You didn’t tell me he was coming, Tada!”

Remus put his hands up to feign innocence. “He didn’t say hello to me either.”

“You always know he’s coming!” Teddy argued.

Remus gave him a Marauder grin and shrugged. Teddy responded by pouting dramatically and folding his arms, clearly something he’d picked up from Sirius. He squeaked when Sirius scooped him up with an arm around his waist and put him over his shoulder. The pout dissolved into giggles and the boy’s hair shifted to his customary teal while he struggled to be put down.

“There are eggs and toast for you in the oven to reheat if you want them,” Remus commented as he sat back and watched the scene unfold. Sirius was laughing now as he swung Teddy to hold with both arms and spun him around. Then they flopped into the chair Teddy had been sitting in and Sirius started to tickle him. Some quick magic from Remus kept the table from tipping over when Teddy kicked it but didn’t save the papers or pencils from landing on the floor.

“Let him go, Pads, before something gets broken,” Remus interrupted, shaking his head and smiling.

“Saved by your tada,” Sirius told Teddy as he stopped tickling his son and settled him in his lap instead. The little boy grinned and hugged him.

“He almost upended the table,” Remus answered. “Speaking of which, he now has to pick up the things he knocked off of it.” He couldn’t have set up a better way to see if Teddy would use magic again if he’d tried.

Teddy looked at Remus and then at the things all over the floor, his green eyes going wide. He wriggled to get off of Sirius and hopped down to start picking them up. Some of the pencils floated up to set themselves on the table while Teddy was gathering up his papers that had flung about the kitchen. 

“Re, are you seeing this?” Sirius spoke in little more than a whisper, his expression a mirror of Teddy’s when he’d seen the mess he had made. That confirmed it. Sirius hadn’t noticed Teddy using magic before either.

“He did it earlier, too,” Remus answered softly, a proud smile on his face.

Teddy looked at them both, confusion etched onto his young face. “What did I do?”

“Magic, Mini-Moony,” Sirius answered.

“I’m not big enough to do magic, Daddy. You and Tada said I can’t play with your wands.” Teddy pouted again at that statement. He had often expressed awe at seeing his parents perform magic around him and he was excited to one day get his own wand even though six years was forever according to the five year old.

“How did the pencils get on the table then?” Sirius asked him.

Teddy looked at the pencils and then at Sirius, his expression indicating he thought his dad had gone mad. “I put them there.”

“With your hands?” Sirius pressed on. This seemed to stump the little boy and he stared at the pencils again. When he looked back at Sirius, his eyes had gone wide. Sirius grinned at him and ruffled his hair. “You did magic, pup.”

A wide grin spread across Teddy’s face as his hair shifted to black in response to the praise he’d been given by Sirius. “I did magic!”

Remus saw the next question coming a mile away. Teddy turned to him, still beaming, and his hair went dark blonde. “Can I have my own wand now, Tada?”

“No.”

“But-”

“No.”

This was followed by a dramatic pout which Remus leveled with a stern look. The expression dropped from his son’s face immediately and he calmly climbed back up to the table in the third chair. He sat quietly with his hands in his lap until Remus pushed his drawings back towards him. Teddy smiled cautiously, receiving one in return, and then went back to coloring.

“How do you do that, Re?” Sirius asked, watching the exchange before getting up to get his breakfast from the oven. A quick reheating charm brought it back to a good temperature.

“Do what?” Remus asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

Sirius nodded towards Teddy who was smiling again and happily drawing a picture of himself with objects floating around him. Remus glanced at what the boy was drawing and took note of the way his hair had gone teal again then smiled at Sirius. 

“I don’t argue with him.”

Sirius appeared to consider the response as he took a bite of his toast but said nothing more. He didn’t speak again until Remus pulled the letter from his pocket to finally read. “What’s that?”

“A letter from Hogwarts. I presume Minerva sent it. It arrived while I was cooking,” Remus explained as he looked at the envelope addressed to both himself and Sirius. Carefully, he cracked the seal and opened it, pulling out the short letter inside.

> _ Dear Remus and Sirius, _
> 
> _ With the Autumn 2003 Term soon to begin, I would like to meet with you both to discuss what the coming school year will bring. This is a delicate matter that ought not be discussed via owl. Please meet me at Hogwarts no later than 19 July.  _
> 
> _ Be safe with the full moon tomorrow and I hope to see you both soon. _
> 
> _ Sincerely, _
> 
> _ Minerva McGonagall _

So they had up to a week to recover and possibly find a babysitter for Teddy. The boy still had school during that week so meeting during the day might be possible if Remus felt up to it. They had a charmed mobile phone that functioned within the castle in case the school had to get in touch with one of them. Otherwise, one of Teddy’s grandparents or Harry and Ginny could surely watch over him for the day. Remus wondered what was so pressing that it had to be dealt with now instead of upon their return to castle in late August. Before Sirius could ask more about it, he handed the letter across the table to him. He held it in one hand while eating with the other, eyebrows arching as the same questions apparently occurred to him as they had to Remus.

“Tuesday or Wednesday, maybe?” Sirius suggested after a moment.

Remus nodded. “If I’m well enough, yes.” The full moon was Sunday night. That ought to be enough time.


	2. Chapter 2

Mobile phone and wand in the pocket of his robes, Remus apparated to Hogsmeade with Sirius not long after dropping Teddy off at school on Wednesday morning. Considering neither had any idea what this was about, they had decided that taking the extra day for Remus to recover from the full moon was in their best interest. He’d slept all day Monday; Teddy having spent Sunday with Andi and getting dropped off at school that morning by his grandmother had allowed both his parents to sleep in. Tuesday had been typical of the days following a full moon and while not completely back to himself, Remus felt well enough by Wednesday to meet Minerva for whatever she needed of them.

Minerva met them at the main doors of the castle, a smile on her face. She was dressed not quite as formally as she would have been during the school year and her hair was in a relaxed partial bun rather than pulled back from her face tightly. “Thank you both for coming.”

Sirius nodded and smiled back at her. “What’s this about?”

“Let’s convene to my office and I will explain everything.” Minerva turned on her heel and led them inside, down a few corridors and up a few staircases to the gargoyle that guarded the headmistress’s office. A wave of her hand overrode the need for a password and she took them both up the spiral staircase. Sirius immediately took Remus’s hand as they climbed it. Remus squeezed it and looked at him, reminding him gently to breathe. The staircase itself widened around them to accommodate him and he seemed to relax some, taking deliberate breaths as directed. His grip loosened once they stepped into the spacious office at the top of the stairs.

“My apologies, Sirius,” Minerva told him sincerely when she realized what had happened. She gestured at a small sitting area before going to her desk to retrieve something. Remus watched her but went with Sirius when he followed the woman’s unspoken directions to take a seat. When she joined them, she had a scroll in hand sat in an armchair adjacent to the couch Sirius and Remus had sat on. She pushed a tartan biscuit tin across the coffee table towards them and offered a smile. Taking the hint, Remus picked a couple and gave a chocolate bourbon to Sirius who nibbled at it obligingly.

“I’ve asked you both here because of a student who will be invited to attend this year,” Minerva began, unfurling the scroll in her lap.

“Teddy’s not old enough,” Sirius immediately told her.

“This isn’t about Teddy. This is about a student who was a victim of the war,” Minerva answered.

“How can we help?” Remus asked, averting the commentary he knew would be coming from Sirius about how he had nothing to do with the war as it had ended and any children affected during his time were already adults.

“This particular student is one of the few children who are on the Werewolf Registry. Her name is Shilo Hughes and she has been shunted between foster care homes since the end of the war,” Minerva explained. 

Remus felt the blood drain from his face. He remembered the name Hughes. He had reported via Potterwatch on the death of muggle-born witch by that name along with her husband who had died when snatchers came for them. He hadn’t known there was a child involved, a child no doubt taken and given to Greyback. Of course the little girl had been passed around between homes. Who would want to take care of a werewolf child? Who would even be able to? He was honestly still amazed that his own parents had given up everything in their lives to take care of him. An orphaned child who they had no reason to take care of, it was no wonder that no-one had taken her in for longer than a few months at a time.

Sirius’s voice had taken on a hard edge when he spoke, reiterating Remus’s question. “How can we help?”

“While it is typically the headmaster’s or headmistress’s duty to visit children whose living situations could make an owl invitation difficult to explain, I feel that in this particular case, it would be more suitable for you both to visit in my stead,” Minerva answered.

“Of course,” Sirius answered, that edge still there. “Though what can I do?”

“As Remus’s primary healer rather than Poppy for the last few years and with your expertise in treating lycanthropy accordingly, I believe that it would be beneficial for you to meet the girl as well. You would be able to assess any needs beyond the known and begin to form a relationship with her. I’d like for you to be her primary caretaker here at Hogwarts if you are willing. Of course, you would be part of our staff at that point and would be compensated as such.”

That was a lot to process and it took Remus a moment to turn and look at Sirius. Not only had he been asked to help in this special case, he’d been offered a job in his own career path, something he’d been pining after for years now. Having agreed to wait until Teddy started school, Sirius had resigned himself to being what amounted to a stay-at-home parent during the school year while Remus taught, continuing his learning in healing arts through attending lectures when possible and a lot of self-study. Now he had an opportunity to work at Hogwarts rather than having to commute and it was meaningful work. The look on Sirius’s face suggested he was having just as hard a time processing all of that as well. Finally, they both nodded to each other and then faced Minerva again and nodded to her as well.

Minerva gave them a tight-lipped smile and summoned an envelope from across the room. It was addressed to Miss S. Hughes who was apparently living in Devizes in Wiltshire for the time being. “I would ask that you both visit her sooner rather than later. This was her first full moon with her current foster family and it may be her last. No request has been received yet by the Ministry to rehome her but she has a long history of moving between families who do not always understand what they are getting themselves into when agreeing to foster a werewolf child.”

“This week,” Sirius answered. “We can ask Andi or Lyall to take Teddy again while we go to meet her.”

“Agreed,” Remus replied. He wanted to meet this girl before she was potentially moved again. He felt guilty for not having even considered that the children taken by Greyback and his snatchers would one day need assistance. He had abandoned the werewolf packs to take care of Dora and then Teddy, having never looked back. So many people he had met and helped, just left behind to fend for themselves while he selfishly watched out for himself and his own. He had known there were children, had even met some of them, but he had done nothing for them. He just hoped he could do something for Shilo. If nothing else, Hogwarts might become the safe haven and hope for her that it had for him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warning:** Child abuse but not, if that makes any sense. Shilo is in rough shape. She is a werewolf kid and the Wizarding World at large doesn't know what to do with that, after all.

The house where Shilo’s foster family lived was in the middle of a housing estate. It was large and detached, a small garden closed in by a low wall and hedges with some flowers under the ground floor windows. It looked like every other house on the street, built of pale brick with symmetrical windows and a chimney atop the roof. Cars lined the street but there did not seem to be an attached garage to any of the houses. It was hard to tell if this particular family owned a car or not but seeing as they were a wizarding family, it seemed unlikely.

Remus and Sirius were dressed inconspicuously, both more comfortable in muggle clothing as opposed to robes anyway. They had arrived via Sirius’s bike, now parked out front of the house with their helmets charmed to it and anti-theft spells activated. Remus eyed the house, wondering just how a werewolf child could live there without someone to mind her during the full moon. He and Sirius had gotten away with living in the middle of a muggle neighborhood by apparating away each month; Shilo couldn’t do that. Making eye contact briefly with Sirius, he walked up the neat path to the front door and knocked, his partner stepping up beside him as they waited for an answer. An owl sent as soon as they’d left Hogwarts on Wednesday had instructed the family to expect visitors from the school but had otherwise been ambiguous.

The door opened a crack and a tall, dark-haired woman with a tired smiled answered. She was younger than them but not by far, probably in her mid thirties, and she wore jeans and a long sleeve shirt with the sleeves pushed up. Her hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail. “Sorry, had a hard time getting away from my kid. She’s not feeling well.”

Remus nodded and gave her a warm smile of his own. “That’s quite alright. My name is Remus Lupin and this is Sirius Black. We’re from Hogwarts. May we come in?”

The woman immediately looked relieved and opened the door wider to allow them entrance. “Thank Merlin,” she exclaimed.

Remus glanced about as he stepped inside. The house looked as he would have expected it to. They entered into a hallway with a small door to the side which was presumably a small bathroom. A second door probably lead to the living room and the door at the end of the hallway was open to reveal the kitchen. A staircase wound around a corner to go upstairs where, judging by the windows, there were likely three bedrooms and another bathroom. What he didn’t see was any indication of a place to contain a young werewolf on the full moon.

“You caught us in the middle of trying to give Shilo a bath, sorry. She’s upstairs with my husband.” The woman held out a hand to greet them. “I’m Adaline Selpie.”

Remus took her hand and shook it, Sirius doing the same when he was done. Remus was surprised that Sirius hadn’t said anything yet but he appeared to be taking in his surroundings much as Remus had upon entering.

“How is Shilo?” Remus asked calmly.

“She… She is very tired and she hurt herself pretty badly.” Adaline frowned, looking incredibly guilty about that. “We’re doing everything we can and we had a healer out on Monday to look her over. It’s just hard when we don’t really know what to do with a kid like her. No-one really prepared us for what it would be like…”

Remus nodded, keeping his expression calm against the roiling emotions he felt on learning that. It genuinely seemed like Adaline cared for Shilo despite not having known her for long. It seemed like, through no fault of their own, the family was simply unprepared to give her what she needed. The blame for that fell upon the Ministry and their apparently shoddy foster care system. Of course, he wasn’t surprised. It probably worked just fine for most orphans. Again, the stigma surrounding lycanthropy reared its ugly head and left an innocent child to flounder in a world that didn’t know how to handle her situation. He wondered how many more there were now that the war was over.

“If I may be so bold, could I see where she spent the full moon?” Remus asked after a moment to collect himself. He kept the calm smile plastered to his face.

“I, um... Right… The Ministry told us all we needed was a warded cellar and chains and they built one under the house. The entrance is under the stairs.” Adaline opened a small half door beneath the stairs, what Remus had assumed was a closet. It revealed a narrow stone staircase going down lit by a single glowing orb mounted to the wall.

Remus looked to Sirius and discreetly touched his arm. “Stay up here. I’ll tell you what’s down there,” he whispered, knowing that just the sight of such a tight space was liable to cause panic. Sirius just nodded and turned his eyes elsewhere.

Adaline nervously lead Remus down the stairs, meeting a metal door at the bottom. Remus could feel the wards tingling his skin in reaction to the curse in his blood and put up his own to protect himself; Shilo would not have been able to do so. When Adaline pushed open the door, he swallowed hard and fought to maintain his facade. As he stepped inside, he was assaulted with the smell of blood that had been washed away but not well enough to erase the traces left by the frightened little girl. It was dark, lit only by another orb that was disturbingly reminiscent of a full moon mounted to the center of the ceiling. Silver shackles were bolted to the floor and, glancing at the door, he could tell it was silver plated on the inside. It was no wonder that Shilo was in such a bad state. By the look on Adaline’s face, she was completely unaware of the problems but felt guilty for it all the same.

“The Ministry built this?” His voice had an icy edge to it that he was unable to reign in.

“Yes… We didn’t know anything about helping a child with lycanthropy. They told us this would keep her contained,” Adaline answered, her voice little more than a whisper. It was clear that even she was uncomfortable being down there.

Remus could only imagine the terror experienced by the little girl when she was locked down in this cell. He had always disliked being locked up for the full moon but at least he had been left to roam the room with nothing that would hurt him aside from himself. This room was more like a dungeon. The more she struggled, the more hurt she’d become.

“I’m sure it did,” Remus answered. He turned and went back up the stairs without another word, careful not to touch the doorframe on the way out. He heard Adaline following him and the clunk of the door shutting behind him. Sirius took one look at him and then openly took his hand. He said nothing but just his presence and the physical contact kept Remus’s fury in check. He took a deep breath to calm himself as the sound of water draining sounded from upstairs.

“Shilo and Brandon must be done with the bath,” Adaline commented softly. “I’ll take you upstairs in a minute to meet them…”

Sirius nodded and finally spoke, seeming to take the hint from Remus’s expression that he was in no mood to voice his thoughts right now. “Thank you.”

There was an awkward silence in which Sirius tried to read Remus for anything to indicate what had him so worked up but eventually gave up and settled for just squeezing his hand and maintaining contact. Remus appreciated it more than he could ever put into words. His mind was running with possible solutions to the problem and trying to steel himself against what he knew he was about to see. Seeing himself torn up after a moon was one thing. He wasn’t sure he was prepared to see a child in such a state.

Adaline quietly beckoned them to follow her up the stairs after footsteps and creaking doors were heard overhead. Sirius lead the way, Remus following by the guidance of his hand. He could immediately smell a wolf as they approached the room, taking in the subtle scents that identified Shilo. She would no doubt be able to smell him as well, but whether she recognized it was a different story. 

Adaline pushed open the door to a bedroom at the end of the hallway. The walls inside were painted a soft pastel orange and the carpet was cream and plush. A simple bed with floral linens was against the wall and a dresser was under the window, framed by yellow curtains. Some artwork depicting sunflowers was hanging on the wall and a few dolls and teddy bears were sitting on shelves and atop the dresser. Wooden cut-out letters spelled the name Shilo above the bed and a hamper stood in the corner by a wardrobe about half full of clothes. It was a bright and cheery room, a stark contrast to the dark holding cell under the stairs. By all appearances, the little girl was in a household that loved her and was trying everything they could to provide for her.

“Brandon, this is Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. They came from Hogwarts,” Adaline introduced them. The sandy-haired man tucking a pale young girl into bed turned and offered a smile. He was dressed much the same as his wife and had the same tired look about him as she did.

“Nice to meet you both. I’ve heard about you in the Prophet,” Brandon commented. He ran a hand over Shilo’s platinum blonde hair and then stood to greet them properly, offering his hand. Both Sirius and Remus took it in turn.

“I’m sure you have,” Sirius quipped before he settled eyes on the girl holding the blankets up to her neck and squeezing her eyes shut tight. Remus wasn’t in the mood to remind him not to be snarky with people when they were on official business.

“Perhaps we could talk downstairs? It looks like Shilo might want to nap,” Brandon suggested as he looked to his foster daughter and then back to his guests.

Sirius nodded as Adaline gave a sad smile to the little girl not looking at them. She left the room and he moved to follow, taking Remus with him. Brandon joined them but Remus cast a glance over his shoulder to catch cautious yet curious brown eyes peering at him. He smiled at Shilo but received no smile in return before rounding the staircase and walking with his hosts into the living room.

“Coffee? Tea?” Adaline asked, looking and sounding as if she was trying to make up for the issues that Remus and Sirius had seen within her house.

“Tea,” Remus answered to be polite. He didn’t feel much like drinking it.

“Same,” Sirius replied beside him.

Adaline disappeared through the dining room to the kitchen while Brandon took a seat across from them. He looked more tired than his wife and appeared to let his smile drop now that he was away from Shilo.

“I had no idea how hard it was to care for a child like Shilo. And she is such a sweet girl… She’s been with us since just after the last full moon.” Brandon sighed then.

Adaline came back with a tray of mugs, setting them on the coffee table and then sitting beside her husband. Milk and sugar were in the center with a teapot while a teabag set in each cup waiting to be steeped. She poured her own and handed one to Brandon then offered Remus and Sirius a smile. “How do you take yours?”

“Black,” they both answered together, quirking a short-lived smile at one another when they realized they had spoken in chorus.

“So I presume that you’re here to talk about Shilo going to Hogwarts. Her birthday was a couple of months ago,” Adaline finally said once everyone had their tea prepared to their liking.

“Yeah,” Sirius answered. “Remus is the Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher and I’m a healer. I’ll be taking care of her medical needs at school.”

Remus listened to him talk, still trying to piece things together in his head as to how the Ministry was treating werewolf children in their care and what he could do about any of it. He’d thought that he had been making a difference with the education of young witches and wizards, overturning the bigotry and prejudice against werewolves, but seeing the set-up they had provided an otherwise kind-hearted foster family turned that all on its head. He supposed that the mere fact that there were children in foster care was a step in the right direction but clearly there was a lot further that society had to come in terms of accepting lycanthropy and those afflicted by it.

Both Brandon and Adaline nodded to Sirius’s explanation. They looked at Remus as if they had questions but were unsure of how to word them, either without sounding stupid or without sounding insensitive; Remus wasn’t sure which. He took another deep breath before he spoke to explain how a young girl such as Shilo could be safe at Hogwarts.

“Her teachers will be made aware of her condition so as to account for her attendance and her health. The other students will not be informed. It is Shilo’s secret to tell if she so chooses. Logistically speaking, Sirius and I will ensure that she takes Wolfsbane Potion leading up to each full moon and then I will accompany her to a safe location to transform and stay with her through the night. Madam Pomfrey and Sirius alike are experts in treating lycanthropy so Shilo’s health will be well taken care of between the two of them. Otherwise, she will stay in the dormitories of whichever house she is sorted into, eat meals in the Great Hall and attend classes alongside her peers. She will be treated like any other student with specific health concerns, held to the same standards all students are expected to meet while efforts are made to accommodate her needs.

As a student in foster care, there is a fund available to assist in purchasing Shilo’s school supplies if you need it. I can help you navigate access to it if necessary. Of course, attendance at Hogwarts is not mandatory but I strongly urge you to consider allowing her to come to the school to receive an education with her peers. From what I understand of her situation, it will help her feel more at peace with herself to be treated like everyone else. I also suspect that she has not had a chance to make many friends so being at school will give her a sense of stability and allow her to do so. Having friends around will help her to cope with her condition.”

There was a hand on his thigh when he was done speaking. Something about his tone must have tipped Sirius off to how he was feeling. Brandon and Adaline were both quiet as they considered his words. Remus gladly let them sit in silence while they processed. 

“She’ll be safe at Hogwarts?” Adaline finally asked.

“Very,” Sirius answered before Remus could speak.

“She will be safer there than she would be here,” Remus added before he could stop himself, keeping his expression flat. He avoided eye contact with Sirius. He knew if he looked at the man then his walls would drop. 

Brandon breathed a heavy sigh of relief at hearing that and faced Remus with a haunted look in his eyes. “Having to chain her up downstairs on Sunday night… And then finding her the next morning the way she was… I don’t know how many more times I can go through that.”

Adaline looked at him with a shocked expression but something about it told Remus that she agreed with him and was more surprised that he admitted it aloud than anything. There was guilt in her eyes. Remus resisted the urge to bite back that they ought to consider how Shilo felt about it, no doubt going through that same horror every month since she was six years old. How many well-intentioned families had given her up for that very same reasoning?

“If nothing else, agree to support her until September 1 when she attends Hogwarts,” Sirius suggested though his tone suggested it was more of a command. He had shifted into the aristocratic pureblood vernacular that he sometimes used when frustrated or nervous about how to communicate without losing his cool. Remus hadn’t heard him speak like that in quite some time. Even his body language had shifted to hold himself with a subtle air of superiority. In any other situation, seeing him sitting there on a modern couch with a leather jacket, jeans and riding boots, his hair pulled back into a messy bun from having had his helmet on earlier, trying to make himself seem like he was better than the people around him would have been comical. 

“We can… We can do that, yes,” Brandon agreed, almost intimidated by Sirius’s change in attitude. Adaline nodded beside him.

Remus reached into his jacket and pulled out two envelopes, both sealed with the Hogwarts crest in the customary purple wax. He handed one to Adaline and Brandon. “That details what we spoke of and contains information about requesting funds for Shilo’s school supplies should you need it. The other is for Shilo herself and I’d like to give it to her personally and speak with her about coming to Hogwarts.”

“Yeah… Yeah, go on upstairs. She might be asleep but you can talk to her if she’s awake. But… She might not talk to you back,” Adaline answered.

“What do you mean?” Remus asked, keeping his expression calm even though that was an even bigger red flag than what he had already seen here.

“Shilo barely ever talks. Her social worker said she hasn’t talked much since she came into Ministry custody not long after the war. It takes her a long time to open up and she has said maybe ten words to us in a month, most of them only in the last week. She hasn’t spoken at all since Sunday,” Brandon explained, averting his eyes.

“With all that she has been through, I am honestly not surprised in the least to learn that,” Sirius answered before Remus could formulate a reply that wasn’t scathing towards the people who genuinely hadn’t had a clue what they were getting themselves into and had inadvertently perpetuated the trauma without realizing or intending it. It wasn’t their fault that they knew nothing about how to care for someone afflicted with the curse and they did seem to be trying to do what was best for her despite being obviously in over their heads.

Sirius stood and nodded to Remus to follow as he left the room. Remus did as directed, leaving Adaline and Brandon staring after them. He heard their voices softly questioning what they were going to do and how to help Shilo as he and Sirius climbed the stairs. On the landing, Sirius stopped and turned to face him.

“What has you so worked up, Re?” he asked quietly, his whole demeanor shifting back to typical Sirius rather than the haughty pureblood he’d been personifying downstairs in response to Remus’s agitation.

“The Ministry built a holding cell downstairs. It’s not just a cellar, it’s a dungeon. The chains and the door are silver-plated and the wards on it were strong enough to cause me discomfort. I can only imagine what a child felt unable to protect herself against them.” Remus spilled all of this in little more than a hiss, his words coming fast and heated. He took a deep breath again to calm himself before they went in to see Shilo. If she was already timid around people she didn’t know, she didn’t need him to come in openly angry.

Sirius quite obviously censored himself for sake of the child in the room at the end of the hall. Rage flashed briefly in his eyes before he put a lid on it, reaching out to take Remus’s hand to stabilize them both. “We’ll help her.” He nodded to the door. “Let’s go and introduce ourselves.”

“Right…” Remus followed Sirius as he turned to continue down the hallway. Sirius knocked gently on the door and cracked it open when there was no reply. Sunken brown eyes stared back at them and Remus put on a smile for the little girl within.

“Hello, Shilo. May we come inside? We’d like to talk to you,” Sirius greeted, giving her his own charming smile. When she didn’t respond but maintained eye contact, he pushed the door open wider and stepped inside. Her eyes followed Remus rather than Sirius once they were both in the room.

“You can probably smell me, am I right?” Remus asked. “You can just nod or shake your head if that’s easier for you. You don’t have to talk.”

Shilo gave a tiny nod of her head as she watched him.

“My name is Remus Lupin. I’m a teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I’m like you, you see.” He knelt beside the bed so they were closer to eye level with one another. Her eyes went wide with realization of the meaning of their shared scent. “We’re here to invite you to attend Hogwarts. Would you like to see your acceptance letter?”

Shilo cracked a smile and reached out a hand from underneath the blankets. Her wrist was wrapped in a tight bandage but the telltale signs of a rash was creeping onto her hand, obviously a result of the prolonged exposure to the silver shackles downstairs. Choosing not to comment, Remus produced the envelope addressed to the little girl and handed it to her. Shilo stared at it for a long time and then carefully opened it, withdrawing her other hand from beneath the blankets. Her mouth moved as if whispering the words to herself as she read the words contained within but no sound came forth.

Sirius settled a hand on Remus’s shoulder as Shilo read her letter. He looked up at him and he nodded to the door. “I’ll be right back.” When Remus nodded, Sirius disappeared out of the room and Remus heard him walking down the stairs. Not long after, he heard the distinctive crack of disapparation. Shilo cocked her head curiously at him so he smiled at her again.

“That was Sirius Black. He’s a healer at Hogwarts and he’ll help take care of you when you’re at school.” 

Shilo nodded again and turned her attention back to the letter, now reading the supplies list. She looked over the papers again and then to Remus with a questioning expression. Unsure of what it was she was trying to ask about, he gestured to the letter. 

“You have a question about that?” She nodded. 

“The invitation?” Another nod. 

“You can do magic, Shilo. Have you ever accidentally made things happen? Perhaps making things float around you or finding yourself in different places without explanation?” A slow smile and a nod. 

“That was magic, Shilo. I would venture to guess you’ve been doing it accidentally since you were little. My son just started doing it a few days ago. He was very pleased with himself.” The smile widened.

“Would you like to come to Hogwarts to learn more about it?” Shilo nodded again.

“Then I look forward to being your teacher.” Remus grinned at her and managed to get one in return before Sirius apparating into the hallway made Shilo jump and look at the door. He came inside with a case and went to kneel beside Remus.

“Hi, Shilo. I have some things here that might help you feel better if you’ll let me take a look at you,” Sirius explained in greeting. “May I?”

Shilo looked to Remus and he was surprised at the level of trust she already seemed to have in him. He gave her a reassuring nod which she then passed on to Sirius. Sirius settled on the edge of the bed and gently took one of her hands. He talked her through what he was doing as he unwrapped her wrist and put what Remus recognized as dittany infused lotion on her skin. The nervous look on Shilo’s face relaxed into a relieved smile as he did the same to her other wrist and asked to look at her ankles.

“Did you touch silver anywhere else?” Sirius asked calmly, to which Shilo frowned and indicated her back. He talked her through rolling over so he could take a look and Remus watched a flash of horror pass his eyes before he plastered a smile onto his face for the little girl he was treating. Her back was a roadmap of scars, some burns and others claw and teeth marks. The most recent was an outline of the chain that she must have rolled on top of in her struggles. Remus had seen his own body in the mirror and while he was covered in self-inflicted scars as well, this was far worse. He had to do something about this but he had no idea what.

“I bet that feels better, right?” Sirius commented as he wrapped Shilo’s back and gently pulled her pajama shirt back down. The girl nodded and then carefully rolled over again to look at them both.

“I’ll leave the lotion with Adaline and Brandon, alright? And I’ll ask them to call me after the next full moon,” Sirius told her as he stood. The smile faded but she nodded and closed her eyes.

“Get some rest, Shilo. We’ll see you again soon,” Remus said quietly, smiling for her even though she wasn’t looking. The girl just nodded. As he and Sirius left the room, he caught her peeking again but didn’t comment. His own smile dropped as they shut the door behind them but it wasn’t time to let go just yet. They had to get home before he could do that.

As promised, Sirius left the healing supplies with Shilo’s foster parents and explained their use. Remus implored them not to use the chains next time but could do very little about the silver on the door or the wards on the cell. Adaline and Brandon agreed, though, so Remus and Sirius took their leave. It was a very quiet ride back to the cottage. Remus imagined that Sirius was just as lost in thought as he was since the man was rarely ever so quiet.


	4. Chapter 4

Remus had never sworn so much in his life. Teddy was still at school and Sirius was watching and listening to him with a look of mild surprise as he paced the kitchen in a very Potter-esque rant about the way the Ministry was handling Shilo’s case and who knew how many countless other afflicted children orphaned by the war. He was fairly positive that Shilo’s time with her current foster family was limited and while he didn’t exactly blame Adaline and Brandon for that, it certainly didn’t help his current mood. Yes, Shilo would have Hogwarts for most of the year but then what? She could stay during the Christmas and Easter breaks but where would she go during the summer? No doubt she would end up in another foster home with another family who meant well but had no idea what it really entailed to care for a child with her needs. How much more trauma would be subjected to before she was old enough to just be spit out of the system altogether? Remus didn’t know what to do about any of it and that made it even worse.

It was Sirius who suggested an outlandish but effective end to his tirade. “What if we foster her?”

Remus stopped in his tracks. He turned to Sirius across the room at the table and just stared at him.

“Think about it, Re. You just got through saying she needs guidance and somewhere to run during her changes rather than being locked up. She needs people who understand how to care for someone with the curse. Who better than us?” Sirius gave him a dazzling smile and rested his chin on his hand while his elbow rested on the table.

“You want to foster her?” Remus asked, otherwise dumbfounded.

“Yeah. Don’t you reckon it’d be a good idea?” Sirius kept smiling at him as if this was the best idea he’d ever come up with. As Remus thought about it, he thought that maybe he was right; this might be the best idea he’d ever come up with. He’d known since Harry was born that Sirius wanted kids and then the way he’d stepped in to help raise Teddy without question had once again proven just how good he was with them. It was really no surprise that he’d want to be a foster parent now.

“Okay,” Remus agreed softly as he kept turning the idea around in his head. He had no idea how to even go about the process but he wasn’t opposed to trying. It really did solve all of the problems he had with the situation.

“Really? Just ‘okay’ and no arguments? No trying to talk me out of being grandiose and dramatic? Just ‘okay’?” It was Sirius’s turn to stare now.

“Just ‘okay,’” Remus agreed.

“Who are you and what have you done with Remus Lupin?”

Remus actually laughed then, drawing Sirius’s smile back out of the incredulous look he’d been giving him. “We need to look into this more. Figure out what we have to do, who we have to talk to.”

Sirius just grinned at him. “I can’t believe you actually want to do this.”

“Why?”

“Because for over a year, you argued that you would be a shit dad,” Sirius reminded him.

“Yes, well… Becoming one accidentally sort of changed my view on that,” Remus answered, averting his gaze awkwardly.

“Teddy… What? Mini-Moony was an accident?” Sirius straightened in his chair.

Remus nodded. He was actually surprised this topic had never come up before. As much as he’d spoken about Dora over the last five years to keep her memory alive for Teddy, he’d never actually divulged to Sirius the details surrounding how suddenly their relationship had escalated. 

“Alright, Moony, there’s a story here.” Sirius folded his arms and leveled Remus with an inquiring stare. Remus quirked a smile back at him and went to sit at the table. By the time he’d explained the rocky relationship he and Dora had built together, complete with the amused realization she was Sirius’s cousin, the disastrous attempts to distance himself for the better part of a year and the whirlwind of rekindled affection turned full-on affair that lead to a shotgun wedding less than a month later, Sirius was laughing and wiping his eyes while Remus was stirring his tea wandlessly with a gently spinning gesture of his finger and fighting not to laugh for himself. In hindsight, it really was quite a hilarious mess that, minus the year in which he’d denied his feelings like a coward, he wouldn’t have changed for the world.

“Damn, Remus… You never did go halves with anything, did you? And you call me the dramatic one.”

“This coming from the man who not once, but twice, presented me with a ring after dark, out of the blue, to make up for arguments,” Remus retorted.

“I didn’t propose to you half-naked after a full moon in the middle of nowhere after having gotten you pregnant,” Sirius answered, for once keeping his expression and tone flat like Remus usually maintained. Remus snorted his tea and Sirius lost his composure and started laughing again.

Sirius wiped his eyes again once he’d gotten his laughter under control, he brought the topic back around to its original point. “So… Fostering Shilo. We should probably talk to Teddy first, right? He’d have to share a room with a big sister if it works out. He probably should have some say in that, I reckon.”

"Yes. I expect his cooperation will be part of the process regardless but it would be nice to have him on board before we start.” As angry as he was for Shilo’s situation, Teddy came first. If he was against the idea, then it ended before it even began. Remus doubted he would be opposed to having a big sister given how excited he got around all of the students at Hogwarts when they came to visit Remus or when Sirius sat with him in class from to time. He wondered what Shilo would think of all of this but it was probably best not to get her hopes up until they figured out whether or not they even could. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! Short, but easing into it. Got a lot of research to do for this one. I know that Wizarding World isn't a mirror of Muggle World but a lot of things are handled in similar if perhaps slightly backwards ways to the Muggle World so now I get to go and figure out how the foster care process works in the UK. The only canon orphans we have are all "raised" by family or were in an era in which orphanages were a thing. Since they aren't anymore... Here's to figuring out the process since we no doubt have a lot of war orphans now that it will apply to.


	5. Chapter 5

As it turned out, becoming a foster parent first meant a significant amount of paperwork. There was a whole stack of forms to complete, handed to them by a clearly overwhelmed intern with little question when they went to the Ministry to find out more about the process. Remus sat thumbing through it all while Sirius absently picked up Teddy’s toys from the living room floor and whisked them off upstairs to their designated location in the boy’s room with a wave of his wand.

“We need to figure out who is the primary caregiver since we’re not married,” Remus commented after sifting through some of the leaflets.

“That would probably be you, right? I mean, you’ve got the most employment history and you don’t have a criminal record looming over your head,” Sirius commented with a sigh.

“Neither do you. You were exonerated,” Remus answered firmly. Sirius rarely brought up his time in Azkaban any more, thankfully, but it took a blunt and immediate shut down to get the topic off the table when it did come up otherwise he tended to spiral. “The employment history is a good point. You just accepted a position at Hogwarts, though.”

“Yes, but I haven’t actually started that yet. You also own the house and have your own kid already,” Sirius reminded him, coming over to look at the papers at last. Remus handed him the ones he’d already looked at. Together, they worked through the forms, opting to list Remus as the primary caregiver. It took the better part of three hours to fill out the many feet of parchment that delved into intimate personal details about their employment, education, criminal history, living situation, health, children, romantic involvements past and present, religious beliefs and magical affinities. Harry and Minerva were listed as references, both of whom had expressed their support for the whole endeavor. Harry though it was a brilliant idea and was excited to meet Shilo if it all worked out. He was already over the moon with the quick approaching arrival of his own child, supposedly due some time in September, so another possibly joining the family just added to that. Minerva had told them that she could think of no better solution to Shilo’s living situation and was genuinely pleased to offer her assistance in whatever way they needed.

Sirius stood up, his quill stuck in his hastily pulled back hair looking much like a feathered hairpiece, and stretched. While Remus bundled the forms into a couple of document tubes, Sirius walked to the window and held it open with one hand while using the other to issue a shrill whistle. It wasn’t long before two owls swooped toward the window from the surrounding woodland and settled with him. One, a barn owl with an expression that always looked like she was plotting something, perched on his shoulder and nipped affectionately at his ear. He’d named her Alhena. The other was a striped owl with particularly fluffy ear tufts that appeared to at least mimic his mood if not convey it properly. He landed on the table in front of Remus where he watched the man expectantly. Sirius, despite the owl being a gift to Remus a few years ago, had named him Romulus before his owner could do anything about it.

“Deliver these to the Department for the Welfare of Magical Children at the Ministry of Magic,” Remus told his owl as he attached one of the tubes to his leg. Romulus ruffled his feathers and butted his head into Remus’s hand once the tube was secured. Remus smiled at him and scratched him gently, waving his other hand to open the jar of owl treats by the window. Romulus chirped appreciatively and took off, gripping the tube with his talons to keep it from swinging free beneath him and picking a treat from the jar before leaving. Alhena was quick to follow with the other tube after getting some love from Sirius and taking a mouthful of treats rather than the one that her companion had taken.

“Now we wait,” Sirius commented as he leaned on the window sill and watched the pair fly away. 

Remus stepped up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist. “Now we wait.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter than most, I know, but it was a decent place to stop. Already working on the next chapter, don't worry. :)


	6. Chapter 6

Harry’s birthday came and went, a calm affair for Ginny being eight months pregnant, along with the August full moon and Sirius’s visit to Shilo as promised, before any sort of reply came from the Ministry about fostering. It came in the form of a small, sealed envelope addressed to Remus and sealed with the Ministry’s emblazoned M logo in purple wax. Teddy, again, was the first one to notice the owl, a little screech that did not appreciate the excited squeals of the five year old boy who was jumping up and down pointing to it from where his family was eating lunch outside in the garden. 

“You’re gonna scare the poor thing, Moons. Sit down,” Sirius told him while laughing and tugging gently on his son’s shirt to get him to back away from the fast approaching owl that was doing everything, it seemed, to alter its course so as not to crash right into the child.

Remus chuckled and held out an arm for the bird, catching her scent as she landed on his forearm. While offering her leg with the attached letter, she gave Teddy a side-eye glance and appeared to want nothing to do with him. He offered her a piece of his sandwich, which she took graciously, as he untied the letter. Then she took off without a sound.

“Is that what I think it is?” Sirius asked, giving up on containing Teddy as the boy could no longer accidentally harm the owl. He was standing on his chair watching her fly away.

Remus turned the envelope in his hand and then carefully opened it, almost afraid to see what it had to say. He looked up at Sirius and offered him a faint smile before pulling the officially stamped parchment from the envelope. The header identified it as being from the Department for the Welfare of Magical Children and listed a few who held office within. Then it was dated and went on to address the application for fostering they had put forth a month ago. Remus read it aloud, his voice calm.

> _Dear Mr. R.J. Lupin,_
> 
> _We regret to inform you that the initial petition to be granted the status of foster parent for magical children has been denied. As a primary caregiver, it would be irresponsible of the Department for the Welfare of Magical Children to place a child in the care of one who is afflicted with the curse of lycanthropy. The danger posed, through no fault of your own, is too great a risk._
> 
> _Please direct all inquiries to Matilda Laceworth, Secretary to the Head of the Department for the Welfare of Magical Children._
> 
> _Sincerely,_
> 
> _M. Laceworth_

“Inquiries? I’ll direct more than inquiries!” Sirius snapped. “That is absolute bollocks! What, did they overlook the fact that you already have a kid? ‘Danger posed,’ my ass! They’re just as bigoted and full of themselves as they ever were!”

Remus let him rant while reading the letter again, this time quietly to himself. Teddy picked up on Sirius’s mood before his tad’s. The little boy’s hair shifted to its natural black and settled back in his chair properly, doing his best to make himself small and appear well-behaved. When Remus looked up, finally, and noticed him watching Sirius, he set down the letter and opened his arms. “Come here, Teddy.”

Sirius calmed abruptly when Teddy scrambled into Remus’s lap. He offered the boy a small smile. “Sorry, little man.”

Teddy nodded to him as he wrapped his arms around Remus’s chest. Remus just hugged him and looked to Sirius. Stormy grey met weary green. Honestly, how could he have expected anything else? He knew how the Ministry and the Wizarding World as a whole felt about werewolves. It was genuinely a surprise that they were doing anything about the children affected by the curse at all. His own efforts at Hogwarts only helped the students and the hate mail he still sometimes received was proof enough of how people really felt about what he was doing and what he was. 

Sirius’s eyes softened and he gave Remus a reassuring smile. “Hey, this isn’t over. We’re not going to take this lying down, okay?”

Remus nodded faintly but couldn’t come up with a solution that made any sort of sense. There was no cure for his condition and the Ministry had already cited that as their reasoning for denying them as foster parents. What more could they do? He put up no arguments when Sirius took the letter from where he’d set it down on the table in front of him and just watched as the man read through it, mouthing the words to himself. He could see the cogs turning in Sirius’s sharp eyes but was certain that they wouldn’t get anywhere. He wasn’t surprised when Sirius crumpled the letter and stuck it in his pocket after a few minutes and declared that they ought to finish their lunch and then take Teddy out for the walk through the woods they’d been planning before the mail had interrupted them. Teddy seemed amenable to the idea and hopped down from Remus’s lap to go back to his own seat. Though it was weighing on him, and obviously on Sirius as well, neither mentioned the letter again until after they’d put Teddy to bed.

“As much as I’d like to go in there and hex some assholes,” Sirius announced out of the blue as they were settling down for the night, “that obviously won’t get us anywhere.”

“Might feel good, though,” Remus countered, changing into sleep clothes and flopping back on the pillows.

Sirius stared at him with a slack jaw before he grinned. “When did you adopt Prongs’ outlook on life?”

“I have never argued with wanting to hex morons,” Remus countered as Sirius climbed into bed beside him.

“Um, yes, you have, plenty of times,” Sirius answered, staring down at him with an incredulous expression on his face. “There were plenty of times James and I wanted to hex Snivellus and you stopped us.”

“That’s because Snivellus would have hexed right back and half the time he had never actually done anything. I’d like to remind you that when he did antagonize us, I did nothing to stop you,” Remus answered serenely.

“What about that time after the Defense Against the Dark Arts OWLs? You were pretty fucking pissed off with us by the end of that but you never stopped us,” Sirius reminded him, laying back and leaning on his elbow to continue watching Remus.

“You may not have noticed but I was about to stop you that day until Snivellus actually attacked James and called Lily a mudblood,” Remus answered. “He still had that scar on his cheek even after Harry was born. Now that I think about it, it’s the first time I recall seeing him use Sectumsempra.”

“Sectumsempra? What?” Sirius stared down at him waiting for an explanation. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Sirius hadn’t been a part of the second half of the war, that he hadn’t ever seen Snape in battle. Remus gave him a brief rundown of the time he’d seen Snape use it to attack George mid flight and drew parallels to the time he’d sliced James’s cheek open with a wordless spell that had a very similar effect.

“Shit, that fucker was inventing spells at sixteen?” Sirius finally commented.

“And we weren’t?” Remus countered shaking his head. The sheer number of spells they had modified or outright crafted in their teens was enough to make them all rich and famous if they ever felt the need to write them down and publish them. In a situation only worth thinking of as a ‘what-if,’ it might be nice to be famous for something other than being the only werewolf teacher in history, first recipient of an Order of Merlin, First Class, and the infamous ex-convict, first man wrongly accused and acquitted of crimes after being held in Azkaban for almost two decades.

“Yeah, but ours weren’t malevolent. Mischievous as fuck but not evil,” Sirius argued.

Remus shook his head and gave somewhat of a bemused smile. This was all beside the original point of the conversation. Of course, Remus himself had derailed it in the first place by voicing his frustrations but talking about Snape certainly wasn’t going to get them anywhere either. “The way you said hexing people won’t help earlier suggested you had a better idea?”

Sirius blinked at him and then grinned after his eyes lit up in recognition. “Right, right. I think I do.” He settled to lay down properly, resting his head on Remus’s chest and draping an arm across him.

“Alright, so go ahead. Enlighten me.”

Remus felt Sirius smirk against him before he spoke. “The way that the letter was worded suggested that the issue is putting you as the primary caregiver. Stupid as that is since you’re Teddy’s primary caregiver and all but whatever. What if we try it with me as the primary?”

Remus mulled that over for a while before answering. “As a primary caregiver,” it had said. Perhaps if he was just a secondary, they wouldn’t have as big an issue. Sirius would be legally responsible during the full moon rather than him. Perhaps that would make all the difference. He didn’t realize that he hadn’t voiced that until Sirius poked him for a reply. He gave a smile to the man who had lifted his head to peer at him and nodded. They could go to the Ministry tomorrow and figure out how to amend their petition to change Sirius to primary. With a wave of his hand, the lights went out. Sirius settled against him again. This might just work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone mentions it, yes, I know that Snape didn't attack George intentionally, that he was actually acting to protect Remus and missed somewhat catastrophically. That said, this is written from Remus's point of view and there are two things to remember about that:
> 
> 1\. Remus hates Snape. Especially the way I have written him, he truly despises the man after learning that he is the reason that James and Lily were targeted. Sure, Harry told him about what he learned in the end about Snape but that would have changed nothing. Remus hates him.
> 
> 2\. Remus also doesn't know that Snape was trying to protect him rather than trying to attack George. His view of Snape is a Death Eater without a true conviction to being evil. He believes that if it had been Alice and Frank targeted for Neville instead of James and Lily targeted for Harry, Snape would still be fully aligned with Voldemort. (I do too, but that's beside the point).


	7. Chapter 7

Excitement for the acceptance of the amended petition was lost in the rush of school starting. The Ministry owl had tracked them down at Hogwarts on September 1 during breakfast. Remus and Sirius were all smiles as they read through the letter that detailed the next steps: interviews with their references as well as personal interviews with both of them and Teddy along with an inspection of the cottage. The process was far from over but it was progress; switching to Sirius being the primary caregiver had done the trick, it seemed. The rest of the day, though, had been spent in a mad rush of faculty meetings, especially concerning Shilo, last minute touches to the classroom and the Hospital Wing office Sirius would be occupying during the school day, and taking Teddy to and from his first day of school. It culminated, at last, in the arrival of the students during the Welcome Feast.

The Feast was one of the only times during the school year that students were expected to sit with their housemates. The Great Hall was a sea of black robes sorted into groups by the small colored accents at the collars of the students wearing them. It was a welcome sight for Remus who had long since found his passion in teaching after spending a good amount of his adult life thinking he’d die young and alone, unemployed and unwelcome because of his curse. Instead, he was one of the most popular teachers at Hogwarts and truly loved what he did and the people he shared his life with. Sirius sat one seat away from him, looking almost nervous to be in healers’ robes again after so long. Remus thought it suited him, though, and was pleased that he was finally able to pursue his career again. Teddy sat between them, practically bouncing out of his seat and looking very smart in his new dress robes. The boy had always loved Hogwarts and had practically grown up in the castle. He was just as excited, or perhaps even more so, as his tada to be back.

The side door beside the the raised staff table opened and the students and staff alike fell silent as Filius lead in the new first years. They all looked so small compared to their older classmates but watching them file behind the tiny Charms teacher was an amusing effect. Filius set out the old stool and Sorting Hat and then began calling names. Cheers rang out as each young boy or girl was sorted into their new house and joined their waiting housemates. As the surnames drew closer to Hughes, he could almost feel the building tension between himself and Sirius. They made brief eye contact when her turn came up, wondering what house the girl they’d already come to care for would be sorted into.

“Hughes, Shilo,” called Filius’s amplified squeaky voice.

The girl, looking much healthier than she had when Remus had first met her, was visibly shaking when she stepped and sat on the stool. She looked up at the teachers’ table and saw Remus and Sirius, holding their gaze for a moment in acknowledgement before Filius placed the Hat upon her head and covered her wide brown eyes. The Hall was quiet as it deliberated for couple of minutes and then yelled, “Slytherin!”

A small, apprehensive smile spread across Shilo’s lips as Filius lifted the Hat off her head. Her robes magically shifted to be accented in green rather than white and she looked to Remus and Sirius. Remus gave her a warm smile, having truly not expected that sorting but having no issue with it; Slytherins were not the villains they had once been made out to be and were actually some of the most dedicated students he’d had the pleasure of working with in his time at Hogwarts, even if they could be a little thick headed in their prejudices at first. He was sure he’d hear from Sirius about it later, though, but seeing as Shilo’s expression didn’t fall, he must have kept the thoughts he was almost certainly entertaining to himself. Shilo made her way to her cheering classmates, her smile wider for the apparent approval she’d gotten from Remus and Sirius.

The sorting continued until the last of the first years had joined their houses, fairly even in their numbers like most years. Then Minerva stood and addressed the school, welcoming them back for another year and reminding them of the unity promoted at Hogwarts and the policy of mingling between houses in place since the reopening of the school in 1998. Finally, she introduced the new staff.

“This year, alongside our new students, Hogwarts also welcomes two new staff members. First, stepping in to take Professor Sprout’s position as the Herbology teacher after she retired last year, is Professor Neville Longbottom. Some of the older students may remember him as a fellow classmate, so join me in welcoming him back to the halls of Hogwarts Castle.”

Cheers erupted as Neville, looking shy, stood beside his new wife, Hannah Abbott, another Hogwarts alumnus who had taken over as matron of the Leaky Cauldron a couple of years ago. It was nice for Remus to no longer be the only Hogwarts faculty member to be returning to the castle with family at his side. The Muggle Studies teacher, Cassandra Murdock, was also joined by her husband this year and, if Remus wasn’t mistaken, seemed to be expecting a child.

“Second, Master Sirius Black is joining Madame Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing this year. Most of you know him as well from his time in the castle with Professor Lupin, so please help make this transition to the faculty a good one for him,” Minerva continued once Neville sat down. Sirius stood and took a small bow, his typical bravado and air of elegance radiating from him in what Remus knew to be a mask for nerves. He smiled sweetly for the man when he sat back down while Teddy hugged him, earning some “Awww”s amongst the loud cheering and applause. 

“Finally, with Professor Sprout’s retirement, we also have a new Head of Hufflepuff House. I am certain that all of you will make Professor Murdock feel welcome as your new Head of House,” Minerva finished with a nod towards the long table clad in yellow accents. While the whole Hall clapped, the house in question cheered and gave friendly waves to the young American teacher who had quickly become a well-liked member of the staff in the same year Remus had returned to teaching.

With some final words of luck and well wishes for the new school year, the speech was done and dinner began. The tables erupted in chatter mixed with gasps of surprise from the first years who had never seen the food appear by magic on the previously empty surfaces before them. Remus watched Shilo for a moment, interacting cautiously with her new housemates but smiling and nodding to them. It was no surprise that she didn’t appear to be talking to them but those around her didn’t seem to mind and she got by well enough by gesturing and moving her head in response to their comments and inquiries. He’d figure out how to teach magic to her when she didn’t want to talk later. For now, celebration was at hand.

“She’s a snake, huh?” Sirius commented beside him. A glance his direction revealed that he’d been watching Shilo as well.

“Apparently so. I’d have pegged her as a Hufflepuff but I suppose being able to read her thoughts revealed otherwise to the Hat,” Remus answered before looking to Teddy who was excitedly waiting to be served by one of his parents. “Ready for some dinner, fy machgen?”

“Os gwelwch yn dda,” Teddy replied, grinning up at Remus.

It still amazed him that Teddy really had grown up bilingual as Sirius had suggested he might years ago. He still struggled to hold full conversations in Welsh since the grammar was different but they were working on it and Lyall often spoke to him in Welsh when he stayed with his grandad. Smiling at the way he’d answered “please” in Welsh as opposed to English, much the same as he often said “thanks” in Welsh without even thinking about it as well, Remus picked up the boy’s plate and dished up the things he knew his son liked along with some things he needed regardless of his thoughts about it. Teddy tucked in without complaint after a firm look told him that the steamed vegetables were a non-negotiable. There was, of course, a promise of chocolate cake sitting right on the table in front of him if he finished his plate.

“Never thought we’d be trying to welcome a snake into our home,” Sirius went on as he served up his own food. He had a bemused smile on his face so he couldn’t have been too upset about it.

“Need I remind you that Harry was almost a Slytherin and Theodore Nott has made some of the best advancements in mental health the Wizarding World has ever seen?” Remus reminded him.

“No, no. Just funny to think about how things have really turned all upside down since our days roaming these halls in uniform,” Sirius commented with his typical grin.

“I would hope so considering how long ago that was,” Remus retorted with a smirk.

“Are you calling me old, Professor Lupin?”

“Well, considering you turn forty-four in a month, make of that comment what you will, Master Black.”

“You wound me, Moony.” Sirius put a hand to his chest and managed to pull off a believable heartbroken expression. Remus just shrugged and kept his own face a mask of neutrality as he started to eat. Sirius went on to pout at him while starting in on his own plate until Teddy distracted them both with chatter about his school day. The little boy always tended to get more talkative when he was tired so while Remus entertained his conversation, as soon as the Feast was done, it was bedtime for his son. Once the meal was over, he scooped Teddy into his arms and held him on his hip, tiny arms wrapped around his neck and a small, now black-haired, head resting on his shoulder. He caught Shilo’s glance and a tiny wave bid him goodnight as the newly sorted young witch followed her prefects, head boy and head girl towards the Slytherin dormitories in the dungeons. He waved back with his free hand and noticed Sirius doing the same.

“Who’s that, Tada?” Teddy’s quiet voice asked around a yawn.

“Her name is Shilo. Daddy and I met her over the summer,” Remus answered. They hadn’t told him who or when he may be getting a foster sibling but when the idea had been brought up with him, he’d been unsurprisingly excited to get to live with another child. Excited by the news they’d gotten this morning, Remus hoped he could soon introduce Teddy and Shilo properly so as to welcome her into their home. He just had to remember that it was one step at a time. They were done with the first step, though, so now onto the next.

Teddy nodded against his shoulder and asked nothing more. He was almost asleep by the time Remus and Sirius made it back to their suite, now properly situated on the second floor as the restorations to the castle were finally complete. It was bigger than it had once been, in light of the small family Remus had brought back to the castle when asked to return to teaching five years prior. Teddy had his own room and there was a proper living space separate from the office now that the little boy was old enough to need to be kept apart from his father’s work when not out wandering the castle and grounds with Sirius. 

“Nos da, fy machgen,” Remus whispered as he settled Teddy in bed after getting the sleepy boy into his pajamas.

“Nos da, Tada. Nos da, Daddy.” Teddy didn’t open his eyes and instead snuggled one of his many stuffed animals and the blankets.

Sirius smiled brightly even though Teddy couldn’t see it and brushed his fingers over the little boy’s hair. “Nos da.”

Remus still felt a flutter when he watched Sirius interacting with Teddy. He’d stepped up and immediately treated the little boy like his own. Though Remus had once believed that he would be an awful father, he was looking forward to now possibly adding more children to their life. Every once in a while, Sirius would look at him or voice an adoring, “I told you so.” And he was right. He enjoyed being a parent with Sirius more than he had ever thought possible.


	8. Chapter 8

Having a young werewolf in his class made Remus a lot more cautious about the typical lessons he did for the first few weeks of school. He usually opened up conversation and allowed the students to discuss what they’d already learned about werewolves, large amounts of it absolute bollocks, and then work within their current understandings to correct and build upon their misconceptions. It made for a stressful few classes at first but it was worth it to build the trust of his students. Since his reappointment and the disastrous publicity that had garnered in 1998, he had made a point of educating new students, and everybody that first year, about werewolves in an effort to undo the rampant prejudice and bigotry that was common place in wizarding society. While things had not really improved much outside of Hogwarts yet, within the school itself, the climate had shifted from hostile to supportive within a matter of months and the children returned to their families to then spread what they had learned. Remus knew full well he couldn’t change the world. But he could change the lives of his students for the better and they, perhaps, could. Five years later and, though there was still a long way to go, public opinion was beginning to tilt more in favor of werewolves. This year, though, the way he went about it had to be more conscientious of Shilo. While he could handle the usual abuses thrown about, he had no intention of exposing her to that, especially not from her classmates. 

First, he gave her a courtesy that he’d never been afforded as a student: a warning before hand that the class would be discussing werewolves. Every year he had been sidelined by the teacher announcing their topic of discussion and then launching into negatively biased explanations of werewolf traits and how to handle them. Whichever of his friends were next to him during any given lesson would offer their support once they knew and actively refuse to participate beyond the bare minimum. Remus just remembered putting on a front of nonchalance when he felt well enough and sinking into his chair to hide when he was already feeling the effects of the moon. He never wanted Shilo to feel that way.

Instead, he approached her at breakfast on Tuesday morning with a small book in hand. It was one that Sirius had found in the library during the first week at Hogwarts in ‘98, a memoir of sorts written by a young wizard who was bitten by a werewolf in their teenage years. It was old, easily written a century or more ago, but it showed werewolves in a positive light. His plan was to have the first years do a book study with it and he’d procured enough copies of the text to hand out to them rather than include it on the supplies list; without guidance, he didn’t want the students reading it over the summer. Shilo, on the other hand, deserved the chance to prepare herself for class.

“Good morning, Shilo,” Remus greeted, standing beside her rather than sitting down on the bench. She was sitting next to another girl in Slytherin colors while a boy in Hufflepuff robes sat across from them. She looked up and smiled.

“May I sit for a moment?” Remus asked her, spotting Sirius from the corner of his eye shooing Teddy along in his primary school uniform, black slacks and grey sweater with a striped yellow tie that he kept fidgeting with, when the boy tried to stay with him as he paused. Shilo nodded and glanced at Sirius and Teddy heading for the staff table.

“My family. The little boy is Teddy, my son,” Remus explained as he sat. “He is possibly more excited about Hogwarts than any of you first years.” Shilo smiled at hearing that and watched him chatting Sirius’s ear off as the man dished up his breakfast.

“He insists that he needs his own wand. Don’t let him play with yours,” Remus told all three of the students, winking at them. They all three laughed and, he realized, it was the first time he’d heard Shilo laugh. He hoped that being here at Hogwarts would allow her to come into her own and do that more often.

“I won’t be seeing you in class until tomorrow, Shilo, but I wanted to check in and see how you were doing.” Remus gave her a warm smile once the three had settled down. Then he offered her the book. He shifted his voice lower so that only Shilo would hear him. “We’ll be using this book a lot for the next few weeks. Feel free to read it beforehand. You can come to me if you have questions or concerns before we have class in the morning.”

Shilo looked at it, glanced at a few pages, and then looked back at Remus. The look on her face said that she did have questions and concerns but the way she glanced at her classmates, both of whom were eating while watching the exchange curiously, suggested that she was worried about their take on it all. Remus just offered her a smile again. “I’m available after dinner if you want to come and see me after you’ve read through it.”

With a faint frown, Shilo put the book into her bag and nodded. She glanced to her friends again and then her breakfast sitting uneaten. She finally looked back at Remus again and he maintained the calm smile for her benefit.

“Don’t worry. It paints a positive picture. I just wanted to give you a heads up before we start the lessons,” Remus explained, his voice still soft for her ears only. She watched him for a moment and then gave him a small, cautious smile.

“Enjoy your first day of classes.” Remus smiled wider, his voice normal volume again. “And welcome to Hogwarts.”

Shilo nodded and gave him a small wave as he left to join Sirius and Teddy. He heard the two kids sitting with her asking her questions about it but, as he expected, she didn’t actually answer out loud. Teddy spotted him coming and waved enthusiastically. Remus ruffled his hair as he sat down and answered Sirius’s inquisitive expression with a small nod and a smile.

When Remus saw her next, Shilo had what appeared to be a drawing tablet with her. On closer inspection, it was some sort of wax slate that could be written upon and then wiped clean to be used again. He smiled and offered her a seat on the couch across from his desk as Sirius scooped Teddy up and carried him over his shoulder towards the private rooms adjoined to the office. She’d come to him after dinner, as he’d suggested, and walked back to the second floor suite that doubled as office and living space with Remus and his family.

“Daddy!” Teddy wailed between giggling, trying to escape Sirius and reaching in vain for Remus who just grinned at him and shrugged.

“Tada has to talk to Shilo. We’ll go and play until bath time, pup,” Sirius told him, smirking at Remus over his shoulder before whisking their son away and shutting the door. Teddy could be heard giggling more and squeaking out something about being tickled.

Shilo seemed amused and then scribbled something on her tablet. Remus sat beside her and watched as she held it up. The message asked how old Teddy was.

“He’s five. He just started school, which is why he was in muggle clothes this morning when you saw him,” Remus explained. “That’s his uniform, like the robes you’re wearing,” he clarified when Shilo looked confused. Remus guessed she must not have had much contact with the muggle world in her constant shuffling around the foster care system, almost certainly never going to primary school. In fact, thinking about it, it was a wonder she was even ready for Hogwarts with how tumultuous her childhood had been.

Shilo smiled slightly and nodded, accepting the explanation. She wiped her board clear and wrote again, showing it to him to ask about the book. She apparently had a lot of questions and concerns and had written them all down for him while she was reading. After Remus nodded to her comment, she pulled out the book and a piece of parchment she’d written on. He took a few moments to read through them all and then offered her a reassuring smile. Most were concerning the way her classmates would figure out her affliction somehow and how she didn’t want to be shunned for it.

“These are natural concerns to have,” Remus began. “And, I’ll be honest with you, some people will be able to figure out that you are afflicted with lycanthropy. However, most of them will be turning whatever negative ideas they have concerning werewolves towards me. It’s well-known, at this point, that I am a werewolf and while most of the students don’t care anymore about that, there are always some who hear things perpetuated by the public and they bring it into the classroom.”

Shilo scratched away at her tablet and held up a question concerning those comments turned onto her. Remus gave her a warm smile and shook his head. “By the time anyone figures out that all of it applies to you as well as it does me, they will have read the book and taken part in the lessons that are designed to change those ideas. It will take time, but I promise you, your time here at Hogwarts will be safe, happy and healthy. Some of the best years of my life were spent here and that was before I had a teacher who cared enough to try and change the way that society views us.”

Another scrabble of quill on wax asked what to do if someone found out. Remus had thrown that question around for a year and a half before it came to matter. “Those who put it together are likely to already be your friends. And having friends who know will, believe it or not, help you cope. Master Black found out when we were twelve years old. The moon wasn’t so scary after that because I knew I had people to support me. You might even choose to tell them yourself once you feel comfortable. A real friend won’t let it change how they see you.”

Shilo appeared to consider those words carefully and Remus gave her a while to process as he read through the other questions she had written on her parchment. A lot of them were about the story and were things that would be addressed in class discussions. Some were taking a deep look at how the people described and the narrator maintained their friendships or fell apart, depending on the person. It made sense that she was concerned about those things and Remus hoped that through talking about them in class with the students her age, the students who would no doubt become friends, would alleviate some of her worries while priming the others for what would inevitably happen to them. By the time Shilo left, she seemed to be feeling better about the upcoming lessons. Her words were shorter as she was clearly getting tired and her hand probably aching from writing everything she wanted to say but she was smiling more. As Remus wished her goodnight and sent her on to bed before curfew would get her in trouble, he decided he’d ask Sirius for ideas on helping her with that particular ailment. If nothing else, he would be sure to have something to make her wrist and hand feel better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a side note that has never actually come up (outside of one mention in The Chronology of a Wolf when James and Sirius can't tie muggle ties for the wedding) - my view of the school uniforms at Hogwarts is VASTLY different than the movies. In fact, Teddy's uniform is much more like the movie uniforms, sans-outer robe. I've talked about them wearing blouses and breeches under their robes but I realize that could have still been seen as weird termingology for the movie uniforms... Anyway, I see the the Hogwarts uniforms as black over-robes with blouses and breeches or long skirts worn underneath, colored high-socks and cravats for their house colors, ankle boots for their footwear. Think Elizabethan formal wear. This school was founded in the 10th century and wizards are known to have not a clue what to do with muggle fashion. Their fashion has not much updated since the Renaissance era if the descriptions in the books are anything to go by so I see the uniforms reflecting that. Imagine them as you wish but keep in mind with my descriptions throughout that the outfits the characters wear (Remus and Sirius included when they are at work) have no real resemblance to anything muggles wear.


	9. Chapter 9

Merlin, it was so strange coming to Godric’s Hollow to visit his godson again. Remus had been so against reclaiming the house when Harry had decided to do so after marrying Ginny a couple of years ago but now that there was a tiny new Potter to welcome to the world, it just seemed right. The baby would grow up in a place that meant so much to their family. It choked him up a little thinking about it as he, Sirius and Teddy apparated just outside of the gate to the cottage. In what was possibly the longest Friday in existence, Remus had taught all day with his thoughts only on Harry. Albus had arrived very early that morning with a wordy, rambling letter from Harry that, in so many words, told them Ginny had gone into labor and Harry had no clue what to do. Sirius had gone to calm him down and check in with Ginny once he’d dropped Teddy off at school and, after spending a few hours getting his godson settled, returned to Hogwarts by lunch. They’d hastily packed for the weekend during Remus’s office hour and left the castle together after a quick dinner. Poppy had been left in charge of making sure Shilo took her Wolfsbane Potion in their absence since the full moon was on Wednesday and Remus had prepared her for his absence when he saw the first year Gryffindors and Slytherins that morning.

“C’mon, Moony. Let’s go and meet Mini-Prongs!” Sirius beckoned, pushing open the gate. Teddy ran on ahead, excited to get to see his aunt and uncle and not really understanding that there was soon to be, or already was, a new baby to meet.

Remus smiled at Sirius and nodded, following after Teddy at a more sedate pace and snagging his son’s hand once he caught up with the impatient child. He knocked on the door, not surprised when someone other than Harry answered. Instead, Arthur met them and ushered them inside.

“Remus, Sirius, little Teddy, hello, hello!” Arthur was a bundle of energy in a way Remus hadn’t seen since Victoire was born three years ago. “Come in!”

Remus stepped in past him, letting Teddy release his hand to take off his shoes. The boy was instantly more nervous once he noticed that it wasn’t Harry or Ginny greeting them. Remus picked him up once he’d kicked off his own shoes, holding him on his hip while Sirius did the same behind him. “How are Ginny and Harry?”

Arthur beamed at them. “They’re great! Molly and George are upstairs with them. George just got here, too.”

“Has the baby been born yet?” Sirius asked, grinning and setting down their travel bag against the wall. There was something almost anxious about the look in his eyes but Remus chose not to comment on it.

“Just! Harry was about ready to send Albus but you got here as he picked up his quill.” Arthur nodded to the stairs. “Might be a bit crowded but we Weasleys are used to that. I remember when Gin was born. Our bedroom never had so many people in it!”

Sirius laughed and followed the man’s directions, heading up ahead of them with all the eagerness of a child going to see their best friend. Remus watched him then looked at Teddy. “Want to go with Daddy?”

Teddy shook his head and clung to him. Remus smiled and hugged him. He wasn’t sure what had the boy so clingy since he was typically outgoing around all of the people at Hogwarts. Though, thinking about it, he’d grown up with them around him whereas he hadn’t had a lot of contact with Arthur or the rest of Ginny’s family outside of Christmas with them each year. “We’ll go upstairs in a minute and see Uncle Harry and Aunty Ginny then, how about that? You have a new baby cousin to meet when we do.”

The little head that had shifted hair color to match his father perked up and turned teal again, almost as suddenly as he’d clammed up upon entering the house. Teddy’s eyes went wide and he grinned. “A cousin?”

“Yeah. Do you want to go and meet them?” Remus asked, his focus on his little boy as Arthur excitedly went back upstairs to visit his grandchild. 

As if on cue, Sirius’s voice carried down the stairs. “You can come up, Moony! S’all clear!”

Teddy wriggled to be put down and then hurtled up the stairs as soon as his feet touched the ground. Remus rolled his eyes and followed him up. The mood swings of five year olds never ceased to amaze him though it was at least more logical than two year olds. Merlin, he didn’t even want to think about going through that again and was glad this little one he was about to meet was not his.

The scene that greeted him in the room was, as Arthur suggested, quite crowded. Molly was sitting beside Ginny on the bed, her arm around her exhausted daughter’s shoulders. The midwife, a young witch with pale hair, was packing her things and smiling across at her. George was reclining in a conjured rocking chair with his feet on the end of the bed, smirking at his sister endearingly. Arthur stood at Molly’s side, stroking Ginny’s hair while Ginny had eyes only for Harry, who was standing beside the bed on the opposite side with a bundle of blankets in his arms and the most awestruck, adoring expression Remus had ever seen on his face. Sirius was at his side, grinning and watching the little baby with stars in his eyes; Remus remembered that expression.

At seeing more people, Teddy froze again in the doorway. Remus put a hand on his shoulder and urged him inside. “I thought you wanted to meet your cousin,” he whispered to the little boy.

Teddy looked at him with wide eyes and nodded but didn’t leave his side. He looked around again, obviously nervous even though he knew all of these people aside from the midwife.

“Want to come sit with me, little tyke?” George asked of Teddy, giving him a big wave when he looked over. Then the little boy looked up at Remus, who nodded to him, and padded across the room to stand beside George. The young man ruffled his hair and picked him up to sit in his lap. “Lotsa people, right? But you’ve got this. You always fit right in at Christmas when everyone’s around.” 

Teddy nodded quietly. Then George winked at him, reached up to his left ear and scratched it. He made an exaggerated gasp as it fell into his hand and then pulled it away, leaving a long, thin, flesh-colored rope attached to his head. Remus rolled his eyes and commended the young man for his practical use of the extendable ears he and Fred had designed in their youth. Teddy, on the other hand, put his hands to his face and had eyes wider than Remus had ever seen. 

George kept up the act of pretending to be shocked by all of this. “Merlin, Ted, what should we do about this, eh?” Then he grinned at the boy and let go of the ear, allowing it snap back into place. “Gosh, that’s better! Phew!”

Teddy finally giggled and Remus relaxed some, knowing he was in good hands with George minding him. He crossed instead to Harry, who had completely ignored the exchange between his brother-in-law and godson. Ginny, on the other hand, was laughing at her brother’s antics while their parents looked both exasperated and amused at the same time.

“Look, Moony,” Sirius whispered, grinning at Remus when he stood at his side. “Another baby Potter!”

“I see that,” Remus answered with a smile and another roll of his eyes. “What’s his name, so that we can desist calling him ‘Mini-Prongs?’” He knew as soon as he got close enough that the child was a boy even though no-one had said anything about it.

Sirius grinned while Harry finally looked up. “I’m a dad…”

“Funny sounding name, that. I’m-A-Dad Potter,” George called from across the room. Sirius and Ginny laughed while Harry blushed faintly.

“Oliver James,” Ginny announced once she got her giggles under control.

“Oliver? You named your kid after Wood? How could you, Gin? I thought you had more taste than that!” George grinned at his sister who made a rude gesture at him despite grinning back.

“I’ve always liked the name,” Harry finally answered. “I had a little cat that used to roam Privet Drive when I was a kid. Think he used to belong to one of the neighbors since he had a collar but he hung out in the Dursley’s back garden a lot. I named him Oliver because he didn’t have a name tag.”

“So you named your son after a cat? Classy, Harry,” George retorted, smirking.

“It’s a perfectly good name, dear,” Molly interjected before George could continue teasing his brother-in-law.

“I agree,” Remus answered, smiling at Harry and then at Oliver in his arms. The baby looked about ready to fall asleep and was snuggling his dad’s chest. “Happy birthday, Oliver James.” 


	10. Chapter 10

Remus honestly had forgotten just how much a newborn baby slept. It seemed like forever ago that Teddy was as small as the little boy in his arms. It was even longer when it was Oliver’s father that he was holding like this, rocking gently on a porch swing and watching as Teddy played in the back garden with three year old Victoire and Bill. Fleur was inside with Molly in the kitchen, heavily pregnant with their second child, presumably a girl since they were naming her Dominique. Remus supposed it was rare to have veela blood in boys. Looking at her, Sirius had guessed that Oliver and his new cousin would be less than a month apart.

“I miss seeing you like this,” Sirius announced softly as he sidled in next to Remus. So absorbed in watching the kids and enjoying having Oliver asleep on his chest, Remus didn’t actually realize he was coming until he was right there beside him. Sirius gently stroked the baby’s thin chestnut hair and smiled.

“Like what?”

“Lost in how happy you are. Forgetting that a full moon is in three days because you have Ollie in your arms and Teddy playing over there without a care in the world.” A head of silky black hair rested on Remus’s shoulder though grey eyes were only for Oliver. He continued quietly. “You get this soft little smile and your eyes light up. You look years younger. I guess the sunset catching your hair helps with that too. It brings out the blonde and hides the grey.”

“Are you suggesting that I’m not usually happy?” Remus asked, his smile widening. The sun did the opposite to his partner’s hair, highlighting the thin streaks of silver starting at his temples, usually hidden amongst the inky black.

Sirius gave a brief chuckle without lifting his head. “No. Just being around the kids, especially this little guy, brings out something more. I still see it sometimes with Teddy still but I saw it more when he was little. There were days when he was the only thing that would make you really smile.”

“I suppose I can be broody sometimes,” Remus answered, still smiling.

“Sometimes?” Sirius barked a laugh and lifted his head with an incredulous look. Remus just smiled serenely at him. Sirius rolled his eyes and reached out for Oliver. “Let me hold Mini-Prongs for a bit before we go. ‘Sometimes.’ Merlin.”

Remus laughed and gently passed the baby to Sirius. Whether Sirius realized it or not, his own expression changed around Oliver as well. It was a look of wonder and an outpouring of love that Sirius usually reserved for private venues. It was a look that said, and had since the first time Remus had ever seen it, “I want one.” Lucky for them, they had one. One who was currently sporting bright blonde hair like his playmate and running around being chased by the little girl.

They sat in amicable silence for a while, the sky growing dimmer and the porchlights finally kicking on. Bill scooped Victoire into his arms right before Fleur opened the kitchen door and called to them both in French. Sirius raised an eyebrow at that then shrugged. “Apparently I haven’t forgotten all my French after all.”

“What did she say?” Remus asked as Teddy ambled towards them, looking tired but reluctant to stop playing.

“‘Honeybee, it’s time to come inside and get ready for bed.’”

Remus gave him an impressed smirk and then got up to pick up Teddy. He called a similar message to the boy in Welsh, getting a somewhat broken complaint about not being tired in response even as Teddy came up to him and put up his arms to be picked up. He was starting formal lessons in Welsh at school this year so Remus was sure he’d become more fluent quite quickly. Remus was still amazed that they had managed to convince the school to enroll Teddy with his grandfather’s address as opposed to his own. He had just been adamant that he wanted Teddy to go to school in Wales to preserve that part of his heritage. Sirius had teased him for a while about it but hadn’t put up any opposition since he didn’t really understand muggle primary schools anyway.

“Do you think that maybe I can have some time with my own son now?” Ginny asked from a spot on the couch when they came in, Oliver still sound asleep in Sirius’s arms. She grinned up at the man as the baby was passed over once more. “You two have been with him more than me and Harry, I swear.”

“Well, he is a rather handsome lad,” Sirius answered with a shrug and a grin. Remus kicked his shin while holding Teddy on his hip, earning himself a mock-glare for his trouble.

“Thanks for being here,” Harry told them, standing to put his arms first around Sirius and then around Remus and Teddy. He’d come a long way in five years with how open he was and how often he initiated contact. Remus was positive he’d be a great father and that the experience would be good for him and Ginny both. There was nothing quite like being a parent.

“We can be here every weekend if you need us. But it does seem like you have plenty of willing and able help in the meantime,” Remus assured him.

Harry smiled sheepishly and nodded. There had been more visitors in the past two and a half days than Remus had seen since Bill and Fleur’s wedding. Weasleys seemed to be popping out of the woodwork to meet the new baby and offer their support to the only Weasley-now-Potter girl born in generations now that she was a mother herself. Oliver had quite the collection of gifts in his nursery upstairs, the same nursery had father had once slept in, now restored to continue the legacy.

“Stay safe on Wednesday, right?”

“Of course. I’ll send Romulus or Alhena to let you know how it goes,” Remus answered with a nod and a faint smile that hid the nerves beginning to mount at being reminded of the impending full moon.

“I’ll send Albus if you don’t,” Harry warned.

Sirius winked. “I’ll make sure you know how things go, Prongslet, even if he’s too tired.”

“Thank you.” Harry seemed almost reluctant to let them go until Teddy muttered something about not being sleepy even as his head dropped on his father’s shoulder and Ginny called out to her husband to make him come and sit down. Remus and Sirius said their goodbyes and then left the room so as not to frighten Oliver with the pop of apparition. Teddy was asleep by the time they had made the trek back up to the castle and only woke briefly to whisper goodnight to his parents as they tucked him in. Come morning, the fairy-tale bubble had burst; it was back to real life and the problems surrounding the full moon coming midweek as well as their attempts to help Shilo beyond the walls of Hogwarts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a plan for this fic that I needed to lay some groundwork with in **A Year in the Life** before I could keep going with this one. They've always been simultaneous works in progress. And I felt like I was neglecting this one so enjoy the fluff before it gets deep again. More likely coming this weekend.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Warning:** Remus and Shilo experience a full moon together in this chapter and therefore will be together without clothes on. Sirius is there too. Sorry if that makes you squeamish but I assure you that absolute nothing happens and it never will. That's just gross.

The first-year Gryffindors and Slytherins had class with Remus on Wednesday morning. Far better at hiding it than Shilo, Remus was able to play off the growing headache he was suffering with and kept the class as lively as possible. Shilo was clearly lagging though, her eyes drooping and her shoulders slumping in her chair as she let her classmates do most of the hands-on work, building a lifesize venn-diagram on the board to compare how different people treated the werewolf author of the story they were studying. Remus left her a note at the end of class to meet him and Sirius in the Hospital Wing after dinner then suggested she take a nap after her last class. She just smiled weakly at him and went on her way. He ended up doing the same between his fifth and sixth years that afternoon. By the time dinner came around, he was knackered, wished that Teddy wasn’t staying with his tadcu that night and wanted nothing more than to be a normal wizard with normal health concerns rather than a cursed werewolf.

“Promise me that if things get rough tonight, you will leave, Pads,” Remus insisted as he and Sirius walked to the Hospital Wing after he had barely eaten a thing without prodding from his partner.

“I promise. Merlin, Moony, I’ve only promised you that about seventeen times just today,” Sirius answered, shaking his head and taking Remus’s hand.

“I know, I know…” Remus gave a tired sigh and Sirius squeezed his hand. 

“Look, you’re going to be fine and so is she and so am I. You’ve both been taking Wolfsbane all week. Nothing’s going to happen.”

“Yeah…” Remus took a deep breath and steeled himself for meeting their young charge in the Hospital Wing. He stood a little straighter and schooled his grimace against the throbbing migraine that only got worse the later it became. When they stepped inside, Shilo was resting on a bed near the door, dressed comfortably in muggle clothing from her foster family rather than in her school robes. Well, her former foster family at this point, according to Minerva. The Ministry, of course, wasn’t doing anything about finding her a new one just yet since the Headmistress was acting as her guardian for now.

“Hey, Snakelet,” Sirius greeted as he approached the bed, grinning at the girl as she looked up him with an incredulous expression on her face.

“Really?” Remus asked, hearing the nickname for the first time. When Shilo looked at him questioningly, he shook his head. “He does this… I apologize.”

Sirius just grinned when she gave a faint smile. She didn’t bother to write on her tablet. She hadn’t said much in class either. Remus guessed that her hands were sore for the impending change tonight. His joints were all aching and it was only through sheer force of will that he was still standing and acting like a normal human being rather than curling into a ball and trying to sleep through everything that was going to happen.

“Shall we then?” Remus asked gently. Shilo groggily climbed off the bed and moved to Sirius’s office to take the last dose of her Wolfsbane Potion. Her expression mirrored how Remus felt, even now. He had just gotten a lot better at hiding the grimace at the atrocious flavor of the potion. It was no wonder that wolfsbane was poisonous to humans. The taste alone might make someone wish they were dead.

“Quit making faces, Moony.”

“I’m not.”

Shilo giggled quietly as she set down her cup. Remus offered her a faint smile, glad to hear the sound. Sirius just put his arms around both their shoulders and ushered them from the room and towards the side door that would take them to the whomping willow. A quick conjured projectile immobilized the tree and Shilo followed him down the secret passage with wide eyes. Remus casually told her how the former headmaster had transplanted the tree and built the passage and the Shack it led to for this very purpose some thirty-plus years ago for his own benefit. She listened with rapt attention, absolutely amazed. When they finally reached the trapdoor leading into the Shack, she paused.

“You can smell a wolf, can’t you?” Remus asked, though it was more of a statement. He could smell his own scent on everything as well, along with Sirius. Well, more Padfoot but they smelled similar. Shilo nodded at his side.

“This is where I have gone to change every month I have spent at Hogwarts. It’s a lot nicer than it used to be.” Remus offered a tired smile and then opened the door and led her inside. The sparse furniture had been repaired, some replaced with other pieces just removed, and the whole place had been cleaned since his first return to Hogwarts years ago. He’d started the process in ‘93 but hadn’t done a lot with it until Sirius started joining him again in ‘98 upon their return to the castle together. In the five years since, it had become a far more welcoming place. The howls and screams, along with a few wards they had placed, kept curious townsfolk away even though it had sat silent for some fifteen years between their leaving Hogwarts and his return to teach at the school.

The main room had a couch along with some assorted blankets and pillows on the floor in the corner and the charmed cabinet in which he kept his belongings safe. It now also contained some first aid supplies. A second room contained a bed that Remus and Sirius sometimes napped in if they had time come morning. There was a table in that room with a couple of chairs, occasionally used to sit and talk when they felt up to it. They’d put a third bed into the final room along with another charmed cupboard for Shilo. Neither were sure if she would want her privacy or if she would want to stay with them when she changed. Remus showed her around, Sirius remarkably quiet during the small tour, and explained what each room was for. He told her she could pick whichever room she wanted and instructed her to put her things into one of the cabinets. She seemed a bit nervous but opted for the room designated as hers. Remus watched her go and then sighed softly, sinking onto the couch for a moment.

“Did you really think she’d want to be with who amount to total strangers while she’s feeling vulnerable?” Sirius asked him gently, kneeling on the floor in front of him and unlacing his shoes for him.

“No,” Remus answered with a soft groan, rubbing his wrists before pulling off his sweater. He absently lifted his feet one at a time to let Sirius pull his boots off.

“We’ll go and check on her after moonrise,” Sirius assured him, removing socks next and then getting up on his knees to work on his partner’s belt. Remus just let him, used to the rather endearing if unnecessary treatment at this point.

“Yeah…”

Sirius crossed the room to put away Remus’s things before coming back to sit with him. Remus sank into his embrace and willed his head to stop trying to split open. He’d been alone for the changes more than he’d had company but it never failed to come to his attention just how much better he felt when he had someone with him. Elegant fingers kneaded his shoulders, rubbed his hips and worked warmth into his knuckles before he finally stopped him and made him transform. Then he settled amongst the blankets with Padfoot curled around him. 

It was almost time. Remus could feel the moon pulling at his body, ready to tear it apart despite the brief comfort Sirius had provided. Soft footsteps caught his attention at the doorway. Both he and Padfoot looked up. A tiny, tear streaked face looked somewhat confused by the scene before her. Remus just offered her a pained smile and opened his arms. It was clear Shilo wanted comfort and no longer cared about their shared state of undress. She padded over to him and sank into his arms. Padfoot’s tail curled around them both.

As the last of the sunlight left the sky outside the window, the persistent ache turned into tearing agony. Remus held out as long as he could before voicing his pain, trying to be strong for Shilo who was already screaming in his arms before he so much as made a sound. It was heartbreaking that the first time he heard her voice was like this. After an eternity, dual howls quieted to whimpers and a fluffy black dog licked the panting muzzles of a tawny wolf and a smaller white wolf who lay tangled in each other’s limbs. Green eyes gazed into brown as the two wolves finally caught their bearings and tried to decide what to make of one another. The tawny wolf knew who the white wolf was but had never had to share his territory with anyone but the fluffy black dog in recent years and the long-since missing stag and rat before that. This youngling was new but he’d expected her presence. He just needed to make sure she knew who was boss. He stood tall, his tail held high, and stared her down. A look of defiance passed her eyes before she backed down, lowering her belly to the ground and laying her tail flat. She reached up with a fluffy paw and tapped his front leg submissively. He yipped at her appreciatively and relaxed his stance, allowing her to stand with him. She watched with alert eyes until he yipped softly at her to give her permission to explore. She was curious about the dog, who had been standing aside until then to allow the tawny wolf to assert his dominance. Then she wandered off and sniffed at things before coming back to the pair. She was the one who yipped this time, wanting to play. The black dog wagged his tail and pounced on her, his tongue lolling. They got into a friendly tussle and rolled about the floor until both were tired enough to sleep. Then the three of them curled up amongst the blankets and spent the rest of the night napping in a dogpile. 

Sunrise found Remus hugging Shilo to his chest, both exhausted with throats raw from screaming. Padfoot licked them both and then resumed his own form to check on them for first aid needs. Remus wasn’t hurt and it didn’t seem like Shilo was either. Sirius left them resting for a few minutes to retrieve Shilo’s things and Remus wasn’t surprised when the little girl fell asleep on his chest. He rubbed her back gently and let his own eyes close while he waited for his partner to return. For a first moon with a young wolf, it felt like it had gone remarkably well. Both had come through it unscathed and after the initial awkwardness of realizing he’d have to be undressed around the girl, they had both gotten over their embarrassment to seek and offer comfort. Remus was vaguely aware of footsteps returning but didn’t bother to open his eyes. Sirius said something softly but Remus wasn’t sure what. He was vaguely aware of gentle hands moving Shilo but put up no complaints as he let his exhaustion take him back into blissful darkness.


	12. Chapter 12

Shilo took the day to recover under Sirius’s care. Remus spent the day in the classroom, tired as always after a full moon. All of his students but the first years were used to spending the day or so after a transformation doing quiet self-directed work rather than the more lively lessons Remus usually delivered. There was a budding new trust between him and his youngest students now that they had seen their teacher go through a transformation without proving any of the bigoted myths about werewolves to be true. The trust that built between Remus and Shilo came tenfold. She came to him more in the following weeks with questions and concerns and more of a simple desire for an adult to talk to about typical preteen needs. Both Remus and Sirius enjoyed being able to be there for her and Teddy seemed to enjoy her company as well when she visited Remus’s office. They didn’t tell either of them about the foster care proceedings so as not to get either of their hopes up but the way that they got along was a good sign.

“I’ve got something for you, Snakelet,” Sirius told Shilo in greeting when she stopped by one evening after dinner. Remus was working on grading papers by then and he glanced over with a smile as Teddy bounded over to join Sirius at the door. Shilo gave Sirius a curious look before grinning at Teddy and mouthing a greeting. She still hadn’t spoken yet but it seemed like she was getting closer to being ready.

“Remus and I have been working on it for a week or two. He made something similar years ago when we were kids. And we figured it might help you now.” Sirius crossed the room to pick up a long thin box with the Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes insignia from the coffee table. He lifted its lid as he walked back over. Inside was a black quill with white spots and a gold writing tip. Remus turned in his chair to watch as Shilo took the box, lifted out the quill and turned it over before looking again at Sirius.

“It will work on your tablet. It’s a self writing quill. All you have to do is mouth the words and it will write them for you.” Sirius grinned as her eyes widened. “No more hand cramps, right?”

Shilo immediately pulled her tablet from her pocket and mouthed a reply. The quill scribbled the words on the tablet for her but when it was done, it spoke in a soft voice with a decidedly Welsh lilt. “Thank you, Sirius.”

Sirius and Teddy both grinned at hearing her voice. Remus and Shilo, on the other hand, were shocked. They’d charmed it to use her voice to speak, much like the spoken caption charm Remus had designed in seventh year for Sirius’s photo album. Shilo was obviously surprised by the charm. Remus, however, was surprised by the accent.

“Ydych chi'n siarad Cymraeg?”

Shilo stared at him before nodding. “Ydw,” she answered aloud for the first time, seeming more confident than Remus had ever seen her. He smiled widely. Perhaps he could use that to help her. Until then, though, he was glad that the quill worked for her. They’d been unsure that it would be able to capture her voice without first hearing her speak. Remus and Shilo spoke in Welsh when together after that night. She happily used her new quill to communicate with everyone else and began to whisper to people she felt comfortable with after a few weeks. 

It wasn’t until mid-October that Harry and then Minerva informed them that they had been interviewed about Remus and Sirius being prospective foster parents. Another full moon had passed by then and they had been getting antsy about waiting for more information. There was also the looming worry of the November moon. There would be a lunar eclipse visible in totality in Britain. Remus had been through them before, Shilo as well, and they were never fun. In his research after the first one he’d experienced, November of 1975 just before the Marauders had perfected their animagi transformations, he’d learned that he’d even been named for one. His parents informed him that he was supposed to have been named John Lyall for his paternal grandfather and father respectively but his mother, ever whimsical and fascinated by all things magical despite being a muggle, had insisted that they name him Remus instead upon learning that there would be a lunar eclipse partially visible on his due date. Despite being born three days early, it stuck and he was landed with possibly the most ironic name a man could have ever been given considering everything that had happened in his life. 

Remus recalled seeing a lunar eclipse just once in December of ‘64. It was one of the only memories he had before becoming a werewolf just before his fifth birthday. It was a beautiful sight. The full moon, looming large in the sky, had darkened from bright white to copper red and back again over the course of the night. He and his parents had watched out in the back garden, bundled up and thankfully able to see the sky after the snow that had fallen the day before. Little Remus shared his mother’s enthusiasm for the spectacle, bouncing around in the snow and watching the moon in wonder. It was one of the only times he’d been allowed to stay up past bedtime. Every blood moon since had been hell on earth for the werewolf he became just months later.

A letter came at breakfast on the first Monday of November and what was initially nervous excitement at recognizing the Ministry seal on the wax quickly turned to outrage.

> _ Dear Mr. S.O. Black & Mr. R.J. Lupin, _
> 
> _ As prospective foster parents, you are required to attend an informational meeting this Saturday evening, November 8, 2003, at 5:30 PM. During this meeting, interviews will be conducted and a home visit will be scheduled to determine the suitability of your living arrangements. Provided satisfactory results of these assessments, training will be scheduled in the coming months to prepare you for the honorable task of caring for a magical child in lieu of their natural family. _
> 
> _ Be aware that tardiness or truancy in regards to this meeting will result in the immediate termination of the petition you have filed to become foster parents. _
> 
> _ Please direct all inquiries to Matilda Laceworth, Secretary to the Head of the Department for the Welfare of Magical Children. _
> 
> _ Sincerely, _
> 
> _M. Laceworth_

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Sirius exclaimed, causing Teddy to cover his ears and stare at him with wide eyes. “Some fucking birthday this is turning out to be!”

“Cariad,” Remus soothed, taking the letter before he crumpled it or incinerated it. They couldn’t very well fight it if Sirius destroyed it. It didn’t help matters that the Wolfsbane Potion he’d taken last night was doing nothing whatsoever to ease his headache for the coming moon, Saturday November 8. He knew full well that it wouldn’t do much to help for the rest of the week but he was unwilling to risk not taking it on the off chance that it did really help despite all evidence otherwise in regards to lunar eclipses.

“Don’t ‘cariad’ me, Remus! This is fucking bollocks and you know it! They already know about your problem. That’s why they denied us in the first place. It’s like they’re fucking trying to shut us down before we’ve even started!” Sirius snapped.

Remus sighed and pinched his temples between his forefinger and thumb. He knew that Sirius didn’t mean to yell at him and he did his best not to let his rising irritation get the better of him. “Cariad,” he said again, his tone a little firmer this time. “I am well aware of what they are doing. They have been doing it to people like me for my entire life.”

“And you’re ready to just lay down and fucking take it, aren’t you?!” Sirius retorted.

Remus growled despite himself and closed his eyes but didn’t answer. If he said anything else, they’d end up in a full blown argument in front of the entire school. As it was, there were already a few people looking their way.

“Gentlemen, may I ask what seems to be the issue?” Minerva asked after giving Sirius a moment to simmer down. Remus didn’t look at her but offered her the letter. She tutted and then handed it back. “Well, that certainly won’t do.”

“Damn right it won’t!” Sirius snapped. Minerva must have given him a look because he added a sheepish, “Ma’am.”

“Daddy, what’s the matter?” Teddy asked softly from where he sat between his parents. Remus finally opened his eyes and looked to see how Sirius would answer their son. The man seemed to force himself to calm down before he answered.

“We got some bad news is all, Mini-Moony.” Sirius gave Teddy a small smile. “Are you ready to head to school now?”

“Is Tada okay?” the little boy asked, looking at Remus. He didn’t remember the previous eclipses his father had suffered through nor the symptoms associated.

Remus reached out to ruffle his hair. “Yeah, I’m alright, fy machgen. I just have a headache.” 

“Is it Moon Sickness?” Teddy asked.

“Yeah. I’ll be okay next week, Teddy. This one’s just harder than normal,” Remus assured him. He hugged his son and kissed his forehead. “Go on. Daddy will take you to school and I’ll see you at dinner time.”

“Caru ti, Tada.”

Remus smiled as warmly as he could muster around the throbbing behind his eyes. “Caru ti, Teddy.”

Sirius stood and leaned over to kiss Remus’s hair. He didn’t say anything but let his hand linger on the man’s cheek longer than usual before he ushered Teddy off to get his backpack and walk to the gates where they could apparate to Lyall’s house and get him to school. Remus sighed. He understood the gesture well enough; Sirius was sorry for taking his anger out on him. He just watched them go before pinching his temples again. He felt a hand settle on his shoulder and glanced up at Minerva beside him. She gave a small smile and then turned to leave the table. Remus watched her go as well before putting his head down next to his largely untouched plate. He held the letter in his lap and sighed again. He needed to think his way through this and the fog of pain clouding his mind was getting in the way. He didn’t know what to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:
> 
> “Ydych chi'n siarad Cymraeg?” - **_Do you speak Welsh?_**  
>  "Ydw." - **_Yes._** (in response to that particular question - there are several ways to say 'yes')  
> "Caru ti." - **_I love you._** (colloquial, informal)
> 
> \----
> 
> Blood moons really are quite pretty to watch. In his life, Remus has experienced eight in totality to date, seven of them as a werewolf. Shilo has experienced two as a werewolf though several more before that. More on that in coming chapters.


	13. Chapter 13

The first owl came during Remus’s fourth year class with Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. They were working with the Patronus Charm for the first time and Remus was demonstrating his wolf patronus loping about the room when a tap at the window distracted him and dispelled it. With how he was feeling and the effects of the moon encroaching upon him, he needed the utmost concentration to cast even the simplest spells, let alone more difficult ones like that. He’d opted to do the demonstrations early in the week so when his magic just up and quit on him later, the students would have already seen it.

“What is that owl doing?” one of the students asked as a snowy owl Remus immediately recognized tapped first at one window and then another. Remus sighed and let it in.

“Thank you, Albus,” he told the bird once he’d retrieved the letter. He lifted his arm to allow the bird to fly off by Albus clung to him and pecked his sleeve. Remus made a face at him but got no relief. Sighing, he returned his attention to the class with the persistent owl now perched atop his left shoulder. A few of the students found this amusing and, if he were honest, Remus thought it quite funny as well. It turned out to be quite the pick-me-up after the argument with Sirius and the bad news they’d gotten at breakfast.

“So, I’d like you to try casting the Patronus Charm. Remember, ‘expecto patronum,’ and you need a strong memory. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get it to work on the first try or even at all by the end of the lesson. We’ll be working on this for a few weeks,” Remus encouraged. Albus at least had the decency to wait until he was done giving instructions to peck his ear. Remus swatted at him but he just pecked at his hand instead. He narrowed his eyes at the bird as the class erupted into cries of, “Expecto Patronum!” around him.

“What do you want?” Remus hissed at the obnoxious bird. Albus jumped to the desk with a flutter of feathers and picked up the letter in his beak.

“The letter?” Remus groaned. Of course… Harry had told the bird to make sure he looked at the letter before Albus left. 

“Fine, hand it over.” Albus released the envelope into Remus’s outstretched hand and nipped at his finger, only to receive a swat and a low growl in response; the owl was not fazed.

> _ Remus & Sirius, _
> 
> _ I heard from Prof. McGonagall about the bollocks the Ministry is trying to pull. I’m working on it. I told Hermione and she’s livid. You’ll probably hear from her too. And I’ll even drop the Chosen One card if I have to. What they’re doing is not on! _
> 
> _ Don’t give up yet! _
> 
> _ -Harry _

“Good news, sir?” a student asked as Remus set the letter down. He realized he was smiling and gave a very small nod. The student smiled back at him. Albus, satisfied now, took off out the open window as Remus started to cycle amongst his students.

A charmed paper aeroplane found Remus next about fifteen minutes later. In Sirius’s looping handwriting, it asked simply if he’d gotten a letter from Harry. With a sigh, Remus scratched a quick reply saying that he had and they’d talk at lunch. It fluttered back out of the room amidst the laughter of his students. If nothing else, the interruptions had lightened the mood and made the act of conjuring a patronus easier.

Tapping at the window alerted Remus and his now very curious fourth years to the presence of another owl not much later. Remus sighed and opened the window to allow a little screech owl into the classroom. He took the proffered letter from her leg and she left without complaint. Recognizing the Ministry seal on the wax, Remus opened the envelope without hesitation. 

> _ Dear Remus, _
> 
> _ Harry contacted me in regards to your application to become foster parents. I first want to say that I think it is so wonderful that you and Sirius want to do that. You are both such great parents to Teddy. I know that you would be fantastic foster parents to any child placed in your care. If only this letter could just be gushing about that. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me and Ron what you were doing! _
> 
> _ I digress. I’m writing to let you know that I also found out about what the Department for the Welfare of Magical Children is doing to put things in the way. While in a twisted way I can understand their initial rejection when you were the designated primary caretaker, this new development in your case is blatant discrimination. There are so many statutes this is breaking and I intend to fight this on your behalf if you’ll let me. Kingsley Shacklebolt specifically repealed all of the anti-werewolf legislation he could find record of upon becoming permanent Minister for Magic two years ago and what the Department is doing violates everything he has done by perpetuating antiquated and bigotted laws and policies that are no longer relevant nor active. _
> 
> _ Once I can draw up the proper documentation and permissions, I’ll send it your way. You and Sirius will need to sign all of it to give me formal permission to indict whoever made the decision to schedule your interviews on Saturday with the complete knowledge and full understanding of your condition and how it interferes with such a mandate. I’ll send the paperwork with an owl who will wait for a response so that it can get right back to me. _
> 
> _ What the Department is doing is not legal and we will win this. You have rights and I intend to uphold them. _
> 
> _ Sincerely, _
> 
> _ Hermione J. Granger-Weasley   
>  Wizarding Civil Rights Office   
>  Department of Magical Law Enforcement _

Remus stared at the letter, completely dumbfounded. A second paper aeroplane soared into the room and crashed into his arm before falling to the floor. This one was far messier and almost illegible with how fast Sirius had written it. It simply said to watch for Hermione’s owl.

“You’re certainly popular this morning, Professor.”

“Apparently so,” Remus agreed, his voice far softer than intended. He set Hermione’s letter and the crumpled aeroplane note with Harry’s letter and looked to see all of his students watching him rather than working on their charm. He shooed them all back to their task with a wave of his hand. He left the window open after that.

By lunch, Remus had another letter from Harry, more excited than the first, three more plane-notes from Sirius, in varying degrees of frantic scribbles, and an aristocratic looking owl sitting on his right shoulder as he left the classroom to find his partner with a document tube in his left hand. One of the aeroplanes had been sent back to tell Sirius to meet him in their suite for lunch rather than the Great Hall while the others had been left on his desk. Teaching had been nigh impossible with all of the interruptions and Remus had eventually turned to giving his students some in-class study time instead since it could be self-directed and he could assist them with questions as needed.

“Has your morning been as busy as mine?” Sirius asked before noticing the owl sitting on Remus’s shoulder when he entered. Grey eyes went wide before he laughed and joined Remus in the doorway.

“Well hi there, beautiful. How about you come and get some treats while we figure out what all those papers are that you brought, huh?” Sirius cooed to the bird, offering his arm. The owl took a dignified step off of Remus and onto Sirius’s forearm, allowing himself to be taken to the windowsill where they kept the owl treats jar.

“He has been sitting on my desk for half an hour. I didn’t want to fill anything out without you and he was luckily far more patient than Albus…” Remus sighed and sank onto the couch with an arm over his eyes. He set the document tube across his lap, not bothering to open his eyes when Sirius came to join him and plucked it up for his own examination. He couldn’t believe that Minerva had set this whole thing into motion. His head was still trying to split in two but he felt like maybe they had a chance now to make this actually happen. He was truly amazed at the lengths to which his family and friends were going to help them.

“This is some top notch work, Re… ‘Mione really came through for us. Shit… I can’t find any sort of loopholes in what she’s proposing.” Sirius gave a low whistle as he read through everything before Remus heard scratching of a quill on parchment. “Your turn. Sign this, Moony, so we can send it back and she can get started. Sooner the better.”

“Yeah,” Remus agreed weakly, finally lifting his arm and sitting up to look over the papers. He glanced through them but opted to trust in Sirius’s judgement rather than subject himself to trying to make sense of it through the throbbing behind his eyes. He took the quill and carefully signed his name no less than ten times. Sirius kissed his forehead and gently pushed him to lay back on the couch while he bundled everything up and gave it back to the owl.

“Think she’ll get it all figured out in time?” Sirius asked as he sat back down and eased Remus’s head into his lap. Remus just hummed and closed his eyes again, too busy enjoying the lulling motion of elegant fingers in his hair and the way it started easing the pain. Sirius chuckled above him but didn’t say anything else. Lucky for him, Remus had his planning period right after lunch today so he had two hours to try and sleep off the worst of it before three more hours of class with his fifth and third years. He had no real idea what he was going to do with them since the rest of his day had already been thrown off by the flurry of owls and charmed notes all morning. He’d figure it out later though. Sleep seemed far more preferable.

“You okay, Moony?” Sirius asked softly, a smile in his voice while his free hand rested gently on Remus’s chest.

“Keep doing that,” Remus murmured, his eyes still closed. He hummed appreciatively and barely heard the quiet reply.

“You got it.”


	14. Chapter 14

Over the next few days, Remus and Sirius received more mail than they had since Remus had resumed his teaching post in ‘98. It was in large part from Hermione detailing the progress she was making and often getting them to sign more forms. Some came from the Department for the Welfare of Magical Children itself. One letter had made Sirius laugh for a solid five minutes before he even let Remus read it. It effectively said that they were very sorry for the mix up and that they’d really appreciate it if the two of them could cease in their efforts to sue them. Hermione had instructed them not to reply to anything they received from the Department without her instruction though so Sirius had just posted the letter to the office wall in their suite and had a good laugh about it any time he looked at it. They finally got a meaningful result from the lawsuit on Thursday night.

> _Dear Mr. S.O. Black & Mr. R.J. Lupin,_
> 
> _Your mandatory meeting as prospective foster parents has been rescheduled. You are required to attend an informational meeting this Friday evening, November 7, 2003, at 5:30 PM. During this meeting, interviews will be conducted and a home visit will be scheduled to determine the suitability of your living arrangements. Provided satisfactory results of these assessments, training will be scheduled in the coming months to prepare you for the honorable task of caring for a magical child in lieu of their natural family._
> 
> _We apologize for the error made in the first scheduling of this meeting and consider the lawsuit at hand a finished matter at this time. Be aware that tardiness or truancy in regards to this meeting will result in the immediate termination of the petition you have filed to become foster parents._
> 
> _Please direct all inquiries to Matilda Laceworth, Secretary to the Head of the Department for the Welfare of Magical Children._
> 
> _Sincerely,_

> _M. Laceworth_

“They rescheduled it for tomorrow,” Remus announced softly after a moment, handing the letter to Sirius across the dining table as he, for once, had been the first one to reach the owl this time. He barely even had the strength to be angry about it with how exhausted he was and the way that even turning his head to look at things hurt right now.

Hermione’s screech owl, a sweet little girl Remus had learned was named Melusine, fluttered in while Sirius was reading the letter. She landed in front of Remus, offered him the letter, and then hopped to see Teddy who offered her some of his chicken. With both his parents distracted, he got away with it even though Remus noticed it nonetheless. Hermione’s letter effectively said she was sorry that the new date for Friday was the best that she could get them to budge on and that she wanted them to keep her informed as to what else was going on if they caused more grief. It was better than nothing but not what they had been hoping for by any means. Remus handed it across to Sirius before he could make an outburst at the first letter. 

“Write a reply to Hermione? I’m not sure I can even write legibly right now…” Remus requested with a sigh. Sirius stared at the letter for a minute before he just nodded and summoned over some parchment and a quill with a flick of his wand. Remus frowned. He had been expecting an outburst. Silent Sirius was scarier than swearing Sirius. That meant he was really angry but didn’t have anything to take it out on. That usually lead to him storming out and taking it out on himself.

“Don’t leave,” Remus added softly as he watched Sirius writing.

“Not going anywhere, Re,” Sirius answered without looking up.

“You’re thinking about it.”

“So what if I am?”

“Please stay.”

Sirius finally lifted his eyes, and agitated set to his brow. “I told you, I’m not going anywhere.” He watched Remus for a moment and then looked back down to the letter to finish it. He whistled to Melusine when he was finished and she hopped closer to hold out her leg to him. Then he levitated the owl treat box lid and sent her on her way. Teddy waved at her before looking to his parents.

“I think it’s time for your bath, Moons,” Sirius told him with a gentle smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Teddy seemed suspicious but didn’t say anything. He instead hopped down from his chair and went with his dad to the bathroom. Remus watched them go and then sighed and went to lay on the couch. A pajama-clad Teddy woke him up later and he carefully got up to put his son to bed. Then Sirius coaxed him to the bathroom himself and he almost fell asleep leaning on his partner in the warm water.

Classes the next day were a nightmare to get through. Remus felt himself nodding off all day and doing his best not to let his temper get the better of him when it came to his students. It wasn’t their fault the moon was trying to literally tear him limb from limb and that there was a wolf holding in his head at all times. Shilo had been excused from class most of the week but Remus had pushed himself through it. He had genuinely no idea how he was going to get through the foster parent meeting that night, though, with how fried his nerves already were. He wanted to see Teddy but knew that he wouldn’t until Sunday morning since his tadcu was taking care of him for most of the weekend. At least he would have a good time visiting family. Supposedly Lyall was going to take him to see Andi as well.

“Ready to go?” Sirius asked as he met Remus at his classroom door after his last class. Remus just took his hand and walked back to the suite. If he was going to have to suffer through this while feeling like he was about to die, he was at least going to do it comfortably. Sirius followed his lead and changed into jeans and a button up shirt over the top of which he threw on his leather jacket. Remus just put on jeans and pulled on his comfiest sweater. 

“Now?” Sirius asked.

“Yeah.”

They walked up to Minerva’s office, Sirius clutching Remus’s hand as a lifeline even as the staircase expanded for him. Unfortunately, her office had the only external floo connected fireplace in the entire castle so they had no choice if they were to make it to the meeting on time. Minerva met them there and offered them both a friendly pat on the shoulder and a bid for good luck as they left.

The lobby for the Ministry of Magic was packed full of people, most of them leaving at this point. The massive golden statues in the fountain that had once adorned the atrium had been removed, replaced instead by a more simple geometric design which cycled through names and faces of those lost in the war since the beginning. Remus purposely ignored it. He didn’t need to see Dora’s face, or Ted’s face, or Fred’s face, or any countless others he had known and lost. He was in a foul enough mood as it was. Sirius tensed slightly as they walked past it and it drew his attention up. James was currently the featured face, his bright smile shining down at them before it flickered to his wife instead. Remus swallowed hard. That was just what he needed.

At the entrance desk, the wait to get inside was quick. Sirius went first, seemingly reluctant to pass his wand over to be checked in and noticeably relieved when the wizard in peacock blue robes handed it back to him after swiping a dark detector up and down his body like a muggle metal detector. Remus sighed and handed over his own wand when it was his turn.

“Name?” the man asked without really even looking at him, too busy running the wand under a stationary probe to register it within the Ministry as a visitor.

“Remus John Lupin.”

“Destination?” 

“Department for the Welfare of Magical Children.”

“Reason?” The wand was set aside to be handed back and the man picked up the thin rod-like detector.

“Sirius and I have an appointment at 5:30,” Remus supplied as he looked at the probe. The man brought it close to him and it immediately started screeching. That was the first thing that seemed to get the man’s attention. Eyes narrowed, he set the probe aside and stepped back as a woman in black uniform robes like the ones Harry had once worn apparated into the atrium beside him.

SIrius immediately moved to stand beside Remus but was stopped by the man manning the check-in desk holding out an arm. He narrowed his eyes and looked about ready to start fighting his way to Remus when Remus just held up his hand. As annoying as this delay was, it wasn’t exactly unexpected. Possibly illegal, but not unexpected.

“Sir, my name is Auror Jenkins. Could you tell me your name?” the woman in the black robes calmly introduced herself as a silent charm built into the check-in area activated and kept Remus contained without actually touching him.

“Remus John Lupin…”

“Ah, Mr. Lupin, if you could empty your pockets, that will help us get to the bottom of this,” Auror Jenkins told him.

Remus did as directed, the only things in them being the letter directing them to come to the meeting this evening and a bar of chocolate Sirius had laced with pain reduction potion. The auror tested each individually and then set them with Remus’s wand.

“The detector goes off in the presence of dark artefacts as well as dark spells cast by individuals. Seeing as your wand did not trigger the probe, it is clear you have not recently cast any dark magic that would set it off. That leads us to one conclusion. You, yourself, set off the detector,” Auror Jenkins explained.

Remus bit back a growl of annoyance and tried to keep the edge out of his voice. He needed to be civil to get through this. He’d had a feeling that was the reason. “That makes sense.”

Sirius was visibly agitated behind the man in the peacock robes. White knuckles were gripping his wand and he was starting to fidget. “Remus-”

“It’s fine, cariad. Calm down,” Remus told him, trying to keep his tone as calm as possible. Then he looked to the auror who looked to be waiting for an explanation. “I’m a werewolf.”

The auror stared at him for a moment and then pointed her wand to the ground at Remus’s feet. He immediately felt the containment ward dispel. Then the auror stepped back and gestured at Remus’s things. “My apologies, Mr. Lupin. You are free to go on ahead to your appointment.”

Remus nodded and took up his wand, putting the chocolate and letter back in his pocket. Sirius was immediately at his side, glaring at both the auror and the check-in attendant. He said nothing as they went on towards the lifts. Remus was quiet as well. He just put his arms around Sirius as they stepped inside the first one that opened and held him close while the trembling man clung as they waited for the ride to end. Being upset beforehand never worked out well for his claustrophobia; he could typically handle it if he was mentally prepared. Both let out a relieved sigh once the door opened again and they were able to step out into the hallway on the newly built eleventh floor.

“It’s alright, Sirius… We’re alright,” Remus murmured to him as they stood taking comfort in each other for a moment before they went on. Sirius just nodded, savoring their embrace a little longer before he moved to take Remus’s hand.

“Come on, Moony…”

Remus quietly followed him, hand in hand, as they went to the office labeled “M. Laceworth.” The room was decorated blandly and held a worn desk at which a young woman in brown and green dress robes sat looking bored with her head down to focus on something on the surface. So this was the Matilda Laceworth who had been writing them all the letters. Remus vaguely recalled meeting her when they had first started their petition. They’d been directed to another office down the hallway behind the front desk where an intern had given them the papers they needed.

“Can I help you, gentlemen?” she asked, looking up and adjusting her glasses.

“Remus Lupin and Sirius Black. We have a meeting at 5:30,” Remus answered, trying to keep his demeanor sociable and friendly despite the migraine suddenly piercing behind his eyes. He’d thought that he had gotten rid of it at lunch with a nap but now it was back. Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. Sirius squeezed his hand as if he could tell that he was in pain; knowing Sirius, he probably could.

“Ah yes, of course.” Matilda Laceworth answered. She rifled through some papers and then looked up at them and gave them what looked to be a forced smile. “Head down the hallway to room thirteen. The social worker assigned to your case will meet you there. His name is Randall Bitterwood.”

Sirius nodded beside him and pulled Remus along to the room directed. Before they entered the room, he reached into Remus’s pocket, earning him a raised eyebrow before he pulled out the chocolate. He snapped off a piece and then held it to Remus’s mouth. Remus quirked a smile and then let him put it inside.

“Like you said, we’re alright.”

Remus smiled wider as he let the chocolate melt on his tongue. Sirius was right. They were alright. This got them one step closer to being to help Shilo and other children orphaned by Greyback in the war. No matter what idiocy they faced here at the Ministry, it was worth it.

The room they stepped into was small enough that Remus knew Sirius was going to get antsy if they were in it for long. A rectangular table was lengthways in the middle of the room with one chair on the far side facing the door and two on the close side with their backs to the door. He left the door open as he went to sit down, this time pulling Sirius along rather than the other way around. Sirius scooted his chair close enough to maintain contact as they sat and waited for Randall Bitterwood to arrive.

“Sorry to keep you gents waiting. The name’s Bitterwood,” a voice announced behind them as the door swung shut. Sirius flinched beside Remus as it clicked into its latch.

Bitterwood was man younger than them but not by far. They may have gone to school together but Remus couldn’t be sure since he hadn’t known many of the younger students outside of Gryffindor. He was short in stature and entered the room with his hands casually in his maroon robe’s pockets. He looked them up and down, presumably taking in their out-of-place muggle attire and then took a seat facing the door and offered them a smile.

“Let’s get to it then, shall we?” Bitterwood started before frowning at Sirius who was glancing at the door repeatedly.

“Could we, perhaps, open the door, Mr. Bitterwood?” Remus asked as calmly as he could muster.

“An odd request but I don’t see why not,” Bitterwood answered, shrugging. He waved his wand at the door which opened as easily as it had swung shut. Then he smiled at them again. Sirius visibly relaxed though he kept a hand on Remus’s leg under the table.

“Thank you,” Remus said for him as he twined his fingers with Sirius’s atop his thigh.

“Of course,” Bitterwood answered before he set a briefcase upon the table and took out a quill, inkpot and a large stack of parchments. “Now the primary reason for tonight’s meeting is to conduct a screening interview as prospective foster parents. I’m also going to give you a little bit of information about the Department and the kids under our care.

Now as you’re probably aware, the Department’s pretty newly established. Only really a thing since the war ended in ‘98. Loads of kids were left orphaned and with as many people died as they did, the typical policy of letting family care for estranged children wasn’t going to work. To date, we have forty-seven children as wards of the Ministry, cared for by those like you that have tried to open their hearts and homes to them. Not all kids find a good fit with their first family, though, so I want to extend thanks of the Department to you for being willing to try. Of course, we have to be careful who we let these kids go home with which is the entire point of the interviews and the home visit assessment. Am I making sense so far?”

Remus took a moment to process all of that through the fog of the pain he was in but Sirius voiced his understanding beside him, sounding calmer now that the door was open again.

“Very good. Let’s crack on then, shall we?” Bitterwood smiled at them both and then picked up his quill and the first parchment. “Just answer the questions honestly and completely and we’ll be done in no time.” Eyeing the stack of parchments, Remus wasn’t so sure about that but he kept the thought to himself.

The interview delved into every aspect of their lives. The questions started out simply enough, asking about Teddy and how they parented him, how he felt about the idea of having a foster brother or sister in the house and how Remus and Sirius intended to integrate the foster child into their family. Then questions asked more about their lives and upbringing, how they worked through conflicts and shared their relationship with Teddy. Remus thought Sirius was about to start swearing when Bitterwood asked about his family’s discipline style and squeezed his hand under the table to prevent an outburst. He thought he might start crying himself when asked to tell about his relationship with his mother and father; he hadn’t had to speak in detail about his mam in a long time and had forgotten how hard it had been to lose her. Remus cursed his low blush factor when they were asked how they handled sexual problems and gave a short answer that there weren’t really any and they didn’t share that with Teddy either way. Questions shifted back to safer territory for a while after that and they both spoke about their career goals and described their home, both the cottage in Yorkshire and the suite they shared at Hogwarts. 

Remus was reaching the end of his patience and was completely exhausted by the time Bitterwood flipped to the last page of the interview questions. He could barely keep his eyes open and his joints were aching and sitting still for so long wasn’t helping that. Sirius had prompted him to eat more of his chocolate and had been discreetly working out knots wherever he could reach his hand. Sirius himself seemed tired and impatient as well though to a lesser degree. He gave a soft sigh when he realized they were almost done.

“These questions are more for you, Mr. Lupin,” Bitterwood told them. Remus tried to sit up a little straighter, not sure how he felt about that and guessing the nature of the questions before the man even started. Sirius frowned beside him but held his tongue.

“First, have you ever bitten or scratched another person as a werewolf?” Bitterwood asked carefully.

Remus narrowed his eyes. “No.”

“Good, now, tell me about how you contracted lycanthropy.”

Tell him about how he contracted lycanthropy. How was that even relevant? How did that affect a child being placed in his care? Remus hadn’t told anyone about that beyond the bare minimum and, despite how open he’d been about everything so far, he wasn’t about to now. Sirius’s tightened grip on his knee brought him back to the present rather than twisting off into an internal tirade. Even so, it didn’t keep the low growl from his tone when he answered shortly. “I was bitten when I was four.”

“Were you at home?” Bitterwood asked after a moment, seeming to notice the growl and not sure what to make of it.

“Yes,” Remus ground out. What did this have to do with anything?

“And how did your parents react?”

“How do you think they reacted?!” Remus snapped. Bitterwood sat back in his chair and looked suitably off-put. “Their four year old son was being mauled by a fucking werewolf in his own bedroom and then after surviving that attack became a fucking werewolf and tore himself apart every month thereafter while they watched by, helpless! They were fucking terrified and distraught! They didn’t know what to bloody do!”

“Re,” Sirius’s calm yet firm voice cut through his rage and brought him to a screeching halt. Remus didn’t even realize until then that he’d stood up and knocked over his chair in the process to growl at the man across the table. Bitterwood had backed up fully and was staring with wide eyes.

“Excuse me,” Remus announced, his voice devoid of emotion. He righted the chair and abruptly left the room. He walked to the bathroom, aware that Sirius was following him but making no moves to acknowledge that. It was over. In one outburst, he’d ruined all chances of them passing the interview and becoming foster parents. He never let his anger get the better of him when it mattered. Not like this. He growled, more angry at himself now, and splashed cold water in his face. He’d effectively proven that he was the vicious monster most people assumed he was when all they knew about him was “werewolf.” No-one in their right mind would put a child with him when he could just as easily snap on them like he had with Bitterwood.

Leather-clad arms looped around Remus’s waist and a warm body pressed up behind him. Soft lips kissed the back of his neck between humming softly. Remus scrubbed at his eyes and then settled his hands on Sirius’s arms. He could feel Sirius’s heart beating fast in his chest and focused on that and the sound of his voice.

“I feel like we have this all backwards,” Sirius finally commented once Remus had visibly calmed down. “Usually you’re the one soothing me.”

“Yeah… I… I shouldn’t have done that… I fucked it all up.”

“Oh, swearing still too?” Sirius chuckled softly and kissed the back of his neck again. “The full moon is tomorrow and it’s an eclipse and we’ve been sitting cooped up for hours. It’s almost 8:30. I think you have a right to be a little highstrung right now.”

“That wasn’t a little, Sirius. I was snarling at him.”

“Yeah well had it been me, I’d have actually drawn my wand on him and then we’d be in really deep shit,” Sirius answered. “Shit, I was about to when you tipped the chair over and brought me back to reality.”

Remus gave a humorless laugh. Of course he’d grounded Sirius even while throwing a tantrum of his own. Sirius kissed him again and then turned him in his arms. 

“Let’s go back. Apologize to the git for scaring him and get this damn thing done with.”

Remus nodded, instantly regretted it, then screwed his eyes shut against the stabbing pain of the persistent migraine he’d been dealing with all night. Sirius cast something on him that eased the pain somewhat and practically dragged him back to the interview room. He didn’t relinquish contact as they sat down and instead put his chair right next to Remus’s to allow their legs to touch as well.

“Is… everything alright, gents?” Bitterwood asked after a moment. Sirius nodded.

“I apologize. My outburst was unwarranted. Please understand that I hold nothing against you for asking the questions you need to ask,” Remus told him in as smooth a voice as he could.

Bitterwood offered a cautious smile after a moment. “It’s fine, Mr. Lupin. I understand what the weekend holds. That does, though, bring me to my next few questions if you are ready to continue.”

“Yes, go ahead,” Remus answered quietly, purposely schooling himself at this point to stay as calm as he could.

“I presume from the way you’ve spoken about your parents that they were supportive of you and helped you manage your condition.” When Remus gave a soft affirmative, Bitterwood went on. “What does Teddy know about it and how does he feel about it?”

“Teddy knows and he isn’t scared or concerned about it at all. He calls it Moon Sickness… He usually spends the night with his grandfather or grandmother when his godparents can’t watch him,” Remus explained.

“What about Sirius? Why doesn’t he watch your son?” Bitterwood asked, looking to Sirius now instead.

“I go with Remus.”

Bitterwood stared at them both for a long minute before he said anything more. He seemed confused and just on the edge of putting it together when Sirius clarified that he was an animagus. It had been on the application forms but Remus supposed Bitterwood had just overlooked that. Never had he been more thankful that Harry had destroyed the animagus registry in ‘97. Sirius had been able to act like he was simply re-registering when the order came that all animagi needed to resubmit their details upon someone noticing the records were gone about a year later.

“Right, right… So what would you do with a foster child during the full moon?” Bitterwood finally asked.

“Send them with Teddy or stay with them. Whichever seemed more appropriate at the time,” Sirius answered and Remus was glad for it since he was still feeling overwhelmed and wanted to talk as little as possible.

“How do you keep yourself and those around you safe during a full moon, Remus?” Bitterwood asked after nodding to Sirius.

Remus sighed. He’d known that question had to be coming but his answer wasn’t exactly what they wanted to hear. He frowned before doing as instructed before and answering truthfully. “I take Wolfsbane Potion every night for the week prior and then I seclude myself into the wilderness surrounding the cottage or the forest surrounding Hogwarts. I have built dens in both areas where I spend most of the night with Sirius.”

“You realize that werewolves are expected to lock themselves up per Ministry guidelines, right?” Bitterwood commented.

“Yes, I realize that,” Remus answered simply, gritting his teeth and forcing himself not to snap again.

“You realize that doing that causes him to hurt himself more than otherwise, right?” Sirius countered, voicing the anger Remus was feeling in his stead. It was Remus’s turn to pacify him now, squeezing his knee and knocking shoulders to get his attention.

“Well…” Bitterwood didn’t seem to know what to do with that revelation and coughed after a moment to move on to the next question. “There are five kids in the system who are diagnosed with lycanthropy. How do you both feel about possibly fostering one of them?”

“I would love to,” Remus answered truthfully.

“Same,” Sirius agreed after taking a deep breath and calming himself.

“Could you elaborate on that?”

“I have lived with the curse my entire life. I can give guidance to a child in that position and give them a safe home in which to learn how to come to terms with it,” Remus explained.

“I’ve been taking care of him for years. I know how it works and how to treat a kid like that,” Sirius answered. “Not to mention I know what it’s like to live with someone with the condition and how to cope with it already.”

Bitterwood scribbled down their answers. “Are you willing to allow the Ministry to build a safe room for transformations in your home?”

Both answered together. “No.”

Remus held his tongue, deciding he’d said enough already in anger tonight. If the issue came up later, he could argue about why he didn’t want such a room built in his home. As it was, they were probably going to be disqualified anyway. He turned his anger inwards again until Sirius squeezed his hand and brought him back.

“That was the last question I had for you. We can schedule a home visit on the way out since Matilda’s in charge of that sort of thing,” Bitterwood told them, tucking all his parchments away once he was done writing their short answer.

“Thanks,” Sirius answered, standing and pulling Remus to stand beside him. Remus didn’t say anything as they walked out to the front desk again. He just wanted to go back to Hogwarts and sleep. He still had to take his Wolfsbane Potion too. Great. Feeling sick on top of feeling like he was about to explode. He was barely aware of Sirius speaking with Matilda Laceworth and bidding Bitterwood goodnight on their way out. They set up the home visit for Christmas break, luckily not needing to worry about a full moon since they fell before and after break this year. 

When they got back to the castle, Remus immediately crashed even though it was only nine o’clock. He downed his potion with minimal complaint for how tired he was, chased it down with water so as not to throw up for how unsettled he was feeling both mentally and physically, and then curled up in bed. Sirius stripped down to sit in bed beside him, scribbling away at parchment levitating in front of him while he played with Remus’s hair and soothed him to a mercifully dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to _DobbyOfRavenpuff_ for being my sounding board for this chapter. He helped me with the research aspects and named Hermione's owl. He got to see firsthand the lengths I go to make sure my fics are realistic so many thanks to him for being my alpha!


	15. Chapter 15

He wanted Teddy. Every time, he wanted Teddy but this time especially so. Though more than that, Remus wanted Sirius. He didn’t trust himself during blood moons to be around anyone, though. The last two he’d made Sirius stay behind, to much complaint from his partner, only to be found trembling from blood loss at sunrise by an anxious overgrown puppy of a dog licking at deep new cuts and darkening bruises that tended to cover broken bones. Sirius didn’t like it any more than Remus did but in those few instances, he gave in to Remus’s demand to be left alone during the transformations. Remus didn’t know whether or not a bite would infect him in his animagus form but with the more primal change associated with a blood moon, he wasn’t about to risk finding out since there was no way Padfoot would be able to force him to submit in those instances. Sirius didn’t argue despite the way that he’d have to inevitably patch his lover back together afterwards.

The first had been about a year and a half after his release from Azkaban and Harry had still been living with them at the time so at least Sirius had had company for the night. Knowing that he wasn’t alone had things slightly easier for Remus but he’d still managed to tear himself apart without the help of the Wolfsbane Potion; that had been when they’d discovered it was practically useless for an eclipse. He’d still suffered the migraines and the near crippling full-body aches for a week beforehand and he’d done worse to himself that night than he ever did on a typical full moon before ever taking the potion in ‘93. The following year, almost to the day, had been the harder of the two because they were both alone for the night. Sirius had been a nervous wreck and Remus had only stopped ripping at his body in frustration when he’d broken both his collarbone and several ribs by slamming into the enchanted door one too many times in an attempt to escape the shack. He’d spent the rest of the night whining and gnawing at his ankle. The scars he’d given himself that night almost rivaled those of the blood moon in 1982. He’d lost three days with a head wound to that eclipse and hadn’t been able to feel his left arm for the better part of a week nor walk without a severe limp for a month for the damage he’d done to himself. The full moons that followed just exacerbated the injuries and it wasn’t for at least a year that he could actually walk properly. He’d never truly recovered his left hand’s range of motion and had been forced to function solely right-handed instead of ambidextrous as he’d done until that point, an adjustment in itself as his left hand had previously been the more dominant of the two. Sirius had commented on it when he first noticed, within the first few days in fact, but Remus had brushed it off without explaining the circumstances of the old injury. He hadn’t spoken to anybody about just how bad that first year had been and none had been as bad as that since.

This time Remus at least had Shilo with him but she was in no position to comfort him. They’d only spent two moons together and while she trusted him enough in their shared affliction and growing relationship as teacher-mentor and student to be willing to sit with him in the Shack for comfort herself, they weren’t enough of a pack yet to make much difference to how he felt about being without Sirius. The only times he hadn’t been pining were when he spent full moons and an eclipse with the wild packs for Dumbledore in ‘96 and even then he’d still managed to hurt himself.

They’d both been restless for hours before, neither eating much for dinner and then forcing down the Wolfsbane Potion one last time before Sirius walked them to the Shack and reluctantly locked them in for the night. Sitting in the pile of pillows and blankets with the girl in his arms, Remus wanted nothing more now than to sleep and ignore his migraine with the sweet release of unconsciousness. He doubted he could walk if he tried for how badly his body was aching, muscles stretching and bones straining to reshape into the wolf. Shilo was trembling against his chest, blankets wrapped around them both against the biting cold that they were both more sensitive to at present. He felt her tears against his bare skin and couldn’t hold back a groan of his own as the last of the twilight faded outside the window. Already in so much pain, he was unable to hide it for Shilo’s sake like he had for their first two full moons together. Both clung to one another as a lifeline as their bodies ripped apart and shifted into panting wolves, a tangled mess of limbs and curled, matted tails.

The tawny wolf licked at the smaller white one’s muzzle and whined at her to get a response. When she licked him back, he was satisfied and shook himself to get up. He padded about, exploring familiar territory and catching old scents of a missing hound. Green eyes narrowed upon realizing the owner of that scent wasn’t around and he took to darting between rooms to look for him. He became more frantic the longer he looked and howled in frustration before the white wolf ran into the room and pounced on him. She was holding herself in a playful manner but he had no interest. He growled at her and she lowered her body to the ground before trying to get him to play again. The tawny wolf held his tail high and snarled. She responded appropriately but still wanted to play. Damn pup. She was persistent, that was for sure. When she pounced on him for a second time, he gave in and wrestled with her before chasing her around the Shack. He howled in victory when he pinned her on her back and she howled with him before licking his snout. 

The game over, the tawny wolf got restless again and searched once more for his missing packmate. Unable to find him, he took to scratching and howling. The white wolf followed him around with her tail down but swishing as if she wanted to play more. When the tawny wolf wouldn’t, she took out her frustrations on the couch and fought with herself. Both were howling within the hour and fresh blood mixed in with the scents mingled into the Shack.

Smelling his packmate’s wound snapped the tawny wolf to attention. Ignoring the weeping scratch he’d given himself, he padded from the room to find the little white wolf curled amongst the tatters of the couch cushions. She’d managed to scratch her face deeply enough to bleed. The tawny wolf licked it gently and nudged her to the pillows that were effectively their den so he could sit and tend to her. After a while she noticed the scratch he’d given himself on his chest and licked it questioningly. He allowed it and shifted for her. Both curled up together for a time, more interested in each other than anything else for a time.

The rest of the night passed in cycles of similar behavior. They would play for a time before the tawny wolf would go looking for his mate again. Alone, they would both get frustrated and bored, hurt themselves and then come back together to lick their wounds and nap some more. The worst the tawny wolf was able to do before being stopped by his smaller companion was sprain his shoulder trying to get out the door. When sunrise approached and their bodies began to ache beyond their injuries, they curled up a last time and howled together before lupine vocal cords became human once more.

Shilo curled against Remus’s side, breathing heavily. Both had their fair share of injuries but neither cared. Remus just wanted to sleep. And he still wanted Sirius. Merlin, he wanted Sirius more than anything right then. He thought he smelled willow, leather and mint through the scent of fresh blood filling his nose with every breath and he smiled ever so slightly before he let darkness overcome pain.

Remus woke in a private room with the sun very firmly aloft in the sky outside his window. Bandages were wrapped around his chest and stomach while his left arm was restrained in a sling. He had assorted scratches wrapped on his arms, legs and face but it was nothing he couldn’t handle. All things considered, he felt more like he’d just come through a normal full moon rather than a blood moon.

“You were calling my name.”

“What?” Remus rasped before coughing and looking to his left. Sirius was sitting in a chair beside the bed smirking at him. He had his right knee bent to his chest, his wrist resting over it while he twirled his wand between his fingers. His left leg was laying on the bed beside Remus, a socked foot resting against his hip.

“You kept howling my name. And Shilo kept complaining she was lonely. Presumably because you were too busy pining after me like a heartsick fool.” Sirius laughed and poked him with his foot.

“What?” Remus repeated dumbly, feeling his cheeks heat up. He had vague memories of the night before, a little white wolf playing with him and howling for Sirius. He had no clue whatsoever how Sirius actually knew that though.

“After last time, I stuck around closeby in case you actually called for help. I was napping on and off as a dog all night.” Sirius grinned widely. “Have I never told you I can understand what you’re saying when I shift?”

“No… You failed to mention that,” Remus answered, closing his eyes and covering them with his right arm after a quickly aborted attempt with his left.

Sirius laughed harder, mimicked a howl that had Remus groaning and wishing he could disappear, and then moved to change forms. He howled for real then and Remus pulled the blanket up over his head. He heard the door open and clicking foot steps entered.

“Mister Black!” Poppy’s voice admonished.

Padfoot made a chuffing sound like laughter which shifted into Sirius’s deep, rich laugh. “Yes, Madam Pomfrey?”

“Kindly refrain from howling in my infirmary.”

“Isn’t it mine too?” Remus could hear the grin in Sirius’s voice.

“That is entirely beside the point, young man!”

“Oh you flatter me!” Sirius laughed again.

“I can and I will remove you from the Hospital Wing, Mister Black.”

Remus couldn’t contain his laughter any longer. It made Sirius laugh louder and gave Poppy pause. As Remus pulled the blanket off his head, his cheeks still red, Poppy was looking over at him and fighting a smile while Sirius was doubled over with his hands on his knees.

“I’ll make sure he behaves himself, Poppy,” Remus managed to say between laughing.

“See that you do, Remus,” Poppy answered, flashing the smile she’d been fighting before turning to leave.

“How come you get ‘Remus’ and I get ‘Mister Black,’ huh?” Sirius turned to him and put his hands on his hips. He looked like he was trying to maintain a stern expression but then just cracked up and doubled over again.

“Because I’m not a little shit like you are,” Remus answered, able to get his own mirth contained long enough to deliver the line with a straight face; it had Sirius laughing harder still. “She did call you ‘young man,’ though. Perhaps she’s going senile.”

“Do you just… Oh, Moony! Low blow!” Sirius was positively cackling at that point.

Remus just smirked and let him get over himself before he brought the conversation back to what was actually on his mind. He hadn’t seen and couldn’t smell Shilo. He was fairly certain she hadn’t been that badly hurt but he had to be sure. “Where is Shilo?”

Sirius was still smiling when he answered. “She’s next door. No worse shape than you are, maybe a bit better.” He sat up straighter and his expression sobered somewhat. “Worst she managed to do was scratch her face. She’ll have a nasty new scar across her nose but that’s about it outside of the ordinary scratches I was expecting to deal with.”

“Have any of her friends come to see her yet? She was worried they were catching on.” 

Sirius quirked a smile again. “I haven’t said anything to them about it, but yeah. The little puff she hangs with stopped by this morning, Airmed? But Pomfrey didn’t let her in. I told her to come back later since Snakelet was still asleep. She’ll probably be here soon, actually.”

“Yes, Brigid. Shilo is close with her and especially worried for her finding out… Go check on her?” Remus requested. “Waking up alone is always disheartening…”

Sirius gave him that sweet special smile Remus loved and leaned over to kiss his hair. “Yeah. I’ll go see her, tell her you’re awake finally. She was asking after you when I last checked on her, ya know?”

“She’s a sweet girl. I’m not surprised.” Remus smiled and let his eyes slip closed, glad that Shilo was alright, all things considered.

“Surprising coming from a snake but yeah, she is.” Remus could hear Sirius pulling on his boots and then padding to leave the room. “I’ll come back soon.”

“You haven’t seen her in class. Definite Slytherin, no doubt about it,” Remus commented as the door clicked shut; Sirius just chuckled in response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HUGE shoutout to _DobbyOfRavenpuff_ for his massive help with beta-ing this chapter (well the first part of it anyway). He got to name Brigid, Shilo's buddy. Pronounced "Bree-yit" the Irish way. THANKS, BUDDY!


End file.
